


Alnaji – Survivor

by Mini_Goat



Series: Fate [22]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Legal Drama, Military Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-01-30 02:38:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21420820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mini_Goat/pseuds/Mini_Goat
Summary: Sammy confronts an enemy but things don’t turn out the way they do in the movies Her life takes a dark twist she hadn’t planned on. Can Jack fix this or is her life ruined forever?
Relationships: Clone Samantha "Sam" Carter/Clone Jack O'Neill, Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill
Series: Fate [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1441348
Comments: 67
Kudos: 77





	1. I See Trees of Green

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING! This story deals not just with attempted rape but with the kinds of things rape victims suffer through, not only to be heard, but to get justice. Sammy is lucky. She has the full force of JAG behind her as her ‘uncle’ and ‘aunt’ are senior USAF officers and her legal guardian is also in a senior military position. Most victims - male and female - don’t have that advantage nor do they have the unique position to be a nearly forty year old woman inside a young teen’s body. This story IS about justice . So keep that in mind if things start getting a bit dark.

**Chapter 1 – I See Trees of Green**

Sammy couldn’t help but grin. It was a beautiful late spring day, Jack and Sam were home safe. Everything was back to as normal as her life got. She’d gotten piano practice done and over with and was on her way home to call her boyfriend who was currently working at Bering & Sons bookstore over on Union Boulevard which probably still felt odd to him compared to his previous life of chasing space snakes and battling paperwork.

It was getting late though and she wanted to get to the drug store before she headed home so she changed course for the Perry’s Drugs around the corner. She would later wonder if that decision made things worse or better. She might not have run into him that day had she gone a different route. She had no way to know he’d been following her at a distance over the course of days for some time, waiting for an opening, a deviation. Her deviation led to a tactical mistake in his plan however, which would stack the course of events in an inescapable net of his own making.

Conner got ahead of his intended quarry. Her stupid, skinny boyfriend had mocked him one too many times and he’d make sure they got the message that he wasn’t someone they should toy with at all. He wasn’t even all that interested in her sexually. He did like the idea of seeing the look of fear in her eyes as he hammered into her. Of ruining her for that little shithead boyfriend of hers. He might take her from behind like the snotty bitch she was. Rip her right open. He bet she was still a virgin too. That stupid O’Neill kid probably was waiting until she was a little older. Conner didn’t care how old a piece of ass was. If he wanted it, he was taking it. He was getting hard just thinking about fucking her tight virgin pussy, watching her eyes while she screamed. Oh yah. He was going to make that bitch bleed.

He parked the van he’d ‘borrowed’ from his dad’s construction company on the side of the road. Sammy’s bike came into view in his side mirror and he got out to lean against the van casually, a piece of rebar in his hand hid behind his leg.

She saw him and the hairs on her neck raised in warning. She sped up, too close to effectively swerve away on the narrow bike path between the sidewalk and street. He was expecting her to speed up and grinned. The rebar shot out and caught the spokes of her bike tires and sent her reeling over the handlebars to slam into the concrete path in front of her. Her chin bounced hard on the pavement and made her see stars as her jaw clicked hard.

“Why, Sammy, are you all right?” he asked her with a grating smile. “Let me help you up.” He reached out a hand as she rolled over onto her knees and shook her head trying to clear it. She’d bit the inside of her cheek when she landed and her legs and arms were scratched and bleeding. She spat out a mouthful of blood.

“No thanks Conner.” She told him, her voice venomous and he smiled at the sight of her on her knees like that. Soon he’d make her beg.

“Oh but I insist Carter. Isn’t that what your weird little boyfriend calls you? Carter?”

“Don’t call me that.” Sammy said with a low snarl. Only one man was allowed to use her last name like that because he loved her. This piece of garbage didn’t have that right and never would.

Conner reached down a hand anyway as she turned to get up and grabbed her arm hard.

Sammy pulled at her arm to get away from his grasp but he gripped her harder and pulled her off balance. She landed on the ground in a sitting position, legs splayed. She glared up at his grinning face. “Let go.” She said with a jerk of her arm.

“I’m just trying to help.” He told her but the look in his eyes was predatory and suddenly she was twelve years younger and Jonas was smiling at her in the same way and her eyes narrowed in hate. “What’s the matter Sammy, don’t you like me?”

“About as much as I’d like a parasitic snake.” She told him as he crouched and his face loomed in her vision.

“You’d almost be pretty if you weren’t so skinny.” He said as he grabbed her other arm and hauled her up before she could get away.

“Really. You’re negging me?” she asked him incredulously. “Last warning Conner, let go.” She told him with fire in her narrowed eyes.

“Oh I don’t think so.” He told her pulling her to the back of the van. “I think I’m going to fuck you until you scream my name.” He told her leering as he pressed his crotch against her side, the evidence of his intent hard against her hip.

He had to release one of her arms to open the cargo door on the van though and Sammy used that moment to shift her weight off balance as she kneed him hard in the crotch. “You little bitch.” He swore at her and slammed the heel of his hand into her temple.

Sammy saw stars but she didn’t need to see to know their relative positions physically. Years of training kicked in for her as she ducked, twisting in his grasp until she was behind him. She used her momentum to sweep his footing and knock him to the grassy ground next to the van which broke his grip on her arm finally.

Angry he twisted and grabbed her ankles together and pulled her to the ground as well, her tail bone slamming into the hard concrete. She let out a whimper of frustration and he was on top of her, a knee slamming hard between her legs as his hands grabbed her shirt and ripped it open. “Fucking bitch. You’ll pay for that.” His fingers dug angrily into her left breast as she looked up at him in horror.

He hauled her up and pushed her towards the open van door and she pretended to act limp as he did so, waiting for him to take his eyes off her face which he did as he got her to the door to the van. The last thing he saw was her small fist slamming into the side of his head.

Conner crumpled to the ground in a heap and Sammy kicked him a couple times for good measure before taking a shuddering breath and vomiting on the pavement in front of him.

She sat on the curb shaking for a long moment before she dug her phone out of her jeans pocket and with trembling hands, blindly hit the number for who she always called on when things went sideways.


	2. Red Roses Too

**Chapter 2 – Red Roses Too**

Jack was laying on his back in the grass holding Gracie above his head, tossing her up lightly while she giggled gleefully “a-din! A-din dada!” Jack laughed. Leave it to his smart daughter to only be seven months old and already able to speak a dozen recognizable words. That was all Carter he thought with a grin throwing her upwards again. She had his grandma’s pretty curly hair though and it was light brown tipped with gold like his own if he let it grow out like Mac’s before it had gone grey. Good trade he decided. She had her mama’s dimples.

Carter was stretched out on a lounge chair, sunglasses on while she tapped away on her laptop. Her long legs bare and her flip flops kicked off beside her. She had several reports to submit to Landry so her time off wasn’t technically entirely her own. She grinned though over the top of her computer at Jack and Gracie playing together. Golden brown curls bounced up and down as he threw her up each time she gleefully asked.

Jack decided the best part of being married to Sam was when they went through a bad mission he could actually talk to her about it without worrying about what them talking usually lead to. He’d had a bit of a chat with Henry about his wife’s emotional health and the president had agreed she was enough of a priority to the safety of SGC that he should take a few weeks home with her. Not that he was on vacation. Like Sam he was reviewing reports and compiling data. They had set up a video conference area in the basement next to Sam’s mini lab so Jack could face time with the president and whatever political idiots who thought they needed to see the whites of his eyes to understand what he was reporting.

Jack got his revenge by sitting in on those meetings in his dress jacket, cover, and a pair of cartoon emblazoned boxer shorts with no pants. Sam had snickered the first time he did it and refused to come downstairs on the grounds that someone might ask what his wife was giggling about.

On the table behind her his phone rattled, playing _Good Morning Starshine_. Sam grabbed it and lobbed it to him with barely a glance. Jack’s hand shot up to nab it as it came down from its deadly accurate arc towards him. He set Gracie down on the grass next to him and answered it, already knowing who it was by the ring tone. Sam’s conversely was _I Can See Clearly Now_. Cassie had changed Jon’s ringtone to _I Think I’m a Clone Now_.

“What’s up buttercup?” He asked Sammy jovially. But his face suddenly became serious. “Are you all right? Where are you?” He asked her gently. “All right, Carter and I will be there in a few minuets...” He paused to listen for a moment. “I promise I won’t hang up.” He assured her.

Sam recognizing his tone looked up and closed her laptop knowing whatever it was they were leaving.

Jack put his hand over the mic on his phone. “Call Wilson and Jon and have them meet us at the corner across from the Perry’s near her house.” He explained.

“What happened?” She asked him as she grabbed her phone.

“That Conner kid finally tried to rape her.” Jack said his voice a furious snarl.

“That son of a bitch. I’ll kill him myself when I get my hands on him.” Sam said with venom.

“I don’t think you’ll need to. She clocked him hard enough to knock him out and used his own zip ties to hog tie him.” Jack said smugly. He was always proud of how tough his Carters were regardless of age or relationship.

“Good. I hope she beat the crap out of him.” She said as she took her laptop into the house and grabbed the keys to their SUV. “I’ll drive; you keep her calm.” She told Jack as she dialed first Wil Amos then Jon to tell them they needed to meet them and why. Jon’s reaction had been predictably identical to Jack’s but Wil had gone very quiet for a long moment then said he understood and hung up on her. Frankly that frightened Sam a little. She suddenly gained insight on how Jack might react if something similar ever happened to Gracie who was obliviously happily playing with her toes in her car seat behind her.

Jack meanwhile was murmuring reassurances to Sammy about their location and estimated time. He’d call the police when they got there. It didn’t sound like Conner was going anywhere any time soon and Sammy was just sitting on the curb sobbing into her phone occasionally while she talked to him.

They pulled up behind the van and Jack nodded at Sammy through the windshield. She sat staring at him her arms tight across her torso as she looked up at them clearly in shock. Sam meanwhile dialed the local police station to request a unit and explained what information they had including the assailant was currently zip tied behind his own van. They agreed to send a unit out in a few minutes and Jack sat with Sammy, his arm around her thin shoulders while she sobbed against his shirt.

Sam watched with a sad smile. She got it. Sometimes Jack’s clone got clingy about her too. It was just one of those things that you dealt with when the same person was in love with you twice. Their feelings for each other had grown but the adults inside them still needed the other. It was… odd.

Wilson and Mary got there first. Wil took one look at Sammy and shrugged off his jacket and zipped her into it without so much as a word. Mary and Sam exchanged a long look. They both knew exactly how well Wil wasn’t dealing with this. Hopefully Jack would talk with him about it because he was very carefully _not_ looking at Conner who was coming to.

Jon arrived last having to first explain to Mrs. Bering someone had attacked his girlfriend at which point she had all but shoved him out the door and told him to take off what time he needed and not to worry about his shifts, just to keep her in the loop. Mrs. Bering liked Sammy and was horrified to hear the kid that had been harassing them both had tried to go after her.

She was buried in Jon’s shoulder when the Colorado Springs black and white rolled up and parked across from the work van.

A young female officer got out of the passenger side.

Jack slapped his forehead and shook his head at who got out of the driver’s side door. Of all the cops in Colorado Springs it had to be this one. “Oh come on.” He muttered.


	3. I See Skies of Blue

**Chapter 3 – I See Skies of Blue**

“Sam.” He looked around at the various people, noting Sam’s CO near an older couple, the pair of teens clinging to each other, and Conner trussed up like a turkey behind the van.

“Pete.” She answered and shifted Gracie on her hip.

“Didn’t know you’d had a kid.” He told her with a nod.

As he was indirectly the reason Gracie was conceived Sam blushed a little and shrugged. “It’s a recent development.” She told him vaguely.

“All right, so what happened here?” Pete asked in general.

Jack sighed inwardly. “About half an hour ago now, I got a call from my niece that she’d been the victim of an attempted sexual assault. She indicated to me that she had succeeded in avoiding being raped and had incapacitated her assailant.” He told his least favorite cop ever.

“That crazy bitch attacked me for no reason!” Conner piped up from his prone position on the street.

“I’ll take your statement in a moment.” Pete said dismissively. He was no fan of Sam’s CO but he’d never known the guy to lie about things previously. Even when it didn’t paint him in the best light. He waived over his as yet silent partner to go stand by Conner and keep him quiet for now though.

Jon had lead Sammy over to Pete after quietly reminding her that it would be a good idea if she didn’t react like she knew him.

Sammy looked up at Pete and he started. She looked so much like Sam it was uncanny. He looked at Sam. “I take it she’s your blood relative?” He said conversationally.

“It’s complicated but yes.” Sam agreed.

“Isn’t it always with you.” Pete muttered and earned a dark scowl from her gray haired CO. “Colonel O’Neill, is there anything else you need to add to your statement?” He asked the older man.

Jack shook his head. “It’s General now. Just that I stayed on the phone with her until we got here while Carter drove and called her parents and boyfriend then you guys.” He said with a shrug.

Pete nodded as he jotted down notes. “All right, and um, congrats I guess.” He hadn’t paid attention to Jack calling the girl his niece or he’d have realized some things. He turned to Sammy. “Your name. miss?”

“Samantha Carter.” She told him and Jon tightened his arm around her shoulder.

“You’re kidding.” Pete said with a sigh.

“My family has a weird sense of humor.” She told him and gave Sam a look Pete couldn’t read but that had the Colonel, no, General biting back a smile.

Pete shook his head in annoyance. “All right tell me what happened here.”

Sammy took a long shuddering breath. “I was riding my bike home from piano practice when I remembered I needed something from the drug store so I changed routes and came this way. Conner was waiting by a work van and used a piece of rebar to dump my bike.”

“Why didn’t you try to get away?”

Jack and Jon gave him matching glares.

“It was too late by the time I saw him and realized he was up to something.” She said, with an edge to her voice. “I pitched over the handlebars onto the bike path and cracked my jaw.” She pointed impatiently at the bloody scrape there. “He pretended to act like he wanted to help me up but when he grabbed my arm it was painful so I told him to let me go.”

“Did he?”

“No. He told me he was just trying to help but he squeezed my arm harder. It probably has a hand mark on it.” She said. Wil’s coat covered most of the evidence of the assault.

“What happened after that?” Pete asked.

“He grabbed my other arm, hauled me up and tried to drag me into his van.”

“Are you certain that was his intent?” Pete asked her.

“Yah the whole letting go of one arm to open the cargo door was a pretty good clue as was him telling me he was going to make me scream his name while he fucked me even though I’d repeatedly told him to let me go.” She snarled. “That’s when I knocked him out and tied him up” What did I ever see in this asshole she wondered to herself. He’s got all the empathy of a Goa’uld.

Pete turned to Sam. “She needs to go to the hospital to have a rape kit done.” He said matter-of-factly.

“Why?” Wil interjected. She knocked him out before he was able to… to…”

Mary put a hand on his arm. “She needs to go so they can photograph her injuries from the attack Wil.” She told him soothingly. Wil shook his head with a pained look on his face.

“We’ll stay with her the entire time Wil.” Sam told the former staff sergeant.

He shook his head, his face green, and Jack gave him a concerned look. “Give us a minute Carter.” He said to his wife who nodded and led the other man away to talk to him softly.

Pete went over to Conner. “Well, what’s your story?” He asked the trussed up kid.

“I want my attorney and I want you to cut these fucking ties right now. I have rights. That bitch got off her bike yelling at me and started beating the crap out of me. I was just trying to defend myself and get away.” He insisted.

Pete looked the kid up and down. Samantha had specific proof of the events she described. Her chin was scraped in a way consistent with her story. Conner on the other hand was sporting a black eye and very little other evidence of being a victim of an altercation. He nodded at his partner who cuffed Conner than cut the zip ties.

“What the fuck! Why am I being cuffed?” Conner demanded.

“Just a formality until we get this sorted out.” Pete said vaguely.

“I want my attorney!” Conner said again.

“You can call him from the station.” Pete told the kid as his partner lead him to the squad car. He then turned back to Mary and Sam. “Your name ma’am?” He said pointing his pen at Mary.

“Mary Amos. Sammy’s legal guardian” Mary told him.

Pete looked at Sam perplexed. “It’s complicated.” She told him again while bouncing the toddler on her hip. Cute kid but he figured Sam would make cute kids. It was one of the reasons he’d wanted to marry her in the first place. He did some mental math and looked at the little girl hard.

“She’s not yours.” Sam said, guessing the reason for his thoughtful look.

“Would you have even told me if it was?” He said to her bitterly. “You know I still care about you Sam if you…”

Sam though shook her head. “I’m married Pete.” She told him.

“Oh. Well. Congratulations then I guess.” He said and looked away from her.

Sam winced a little.

Jon rolled his eyes. This guy was a pain in his ass still. “We should take Sammy to the hospital.” He told Sam and Mary.

“We should.” Mary agreed. “We can take my car and have Wil and Jack follow.”

Sam nodded in agreement and took Grace to Jack to put in her car seat. “Is he all right?” Sam asked her husband of Sammy’s foster dad.

“No but he should be after a while. Your dad would have reacted the same way.” He told her.

“Yah, I know. That’s why I could never tell him about why I ended things with Jonas.”

He nodded shortly.

“Mary is driving Sammy, Jon and I to the hospital. Why don’t you and Wil follow in the van?”

“All right. Evans?”

“Yup. Drive safe.” Impulsively she leaned up and brushed his lips with her own.

“I thought I was the one that needed to mark his territory.” He teased her softly.

“You were thinking it.” She said with a small smile.

“You always could read me like a book.” He said grinning tightly and motioned Wil to help him grab Jon’s Vespa to toss in the cargo area and get in the passenger side.

Pete watched them drive off while he called in another unit to secure the scene and the evidence. He’d need a tow for the van for the impound. He glowered privately. He’d always thought she had something for that guy and she’d always denied it. Said he was her CO and there was nothing going on. O’Neill might not be a liar but Sam had sure turned out to be one.


	4. Clouds of White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you are noticing something a little dark and sinister about the chapter titles... it's not your imagination.

**Chapter 4 – Clouds of White**

Sammy sat in the hospital gown on the gurney in a small room off the ER. They had taken her clothes including Wil’s jacket and the evidence cloth already. Sam and Mary had shooed Jon out before she was made to undress in spite of his protests and told him to find Wil and Jack. Both women knew Jon’s presence wouldn’t be strictly helpful during any of this. He was already upset and seeing how she’d be treated wasn’t going to make him any less so. The kit was as traumatizing as the assault usually.

Jon found Jack on the phone with an annoyed expression on his face while he spoke to whoever it was. It only took Jon a couple sentences in to realize the discussion topic was Sammy. Jon gave the older version of himself a perplexed look.

“JAG” Jack mouthed at the kid who nodded in understanding then went back to explaining what was going on.

Jon turned to Wil. “This is going to be a clearance nightmare for prosecution.” He said.

“Not to mention how hard it’s going to be to keep things under wraps. It’s going to have to go before a military tribunal.” Wil told the younger man.

Jon nodded. “You’re probably right but that might be to our advantage. They aren’t going to be very receptive to some slick civilian ambulance chaser.”

“Nope.” Wil agreed.

Jack finished his phone call. “They are sending someone over in a while. Rape kits usually take a few hours.”

Wil goggled at him.

“Carter had a couple close calls. We do them at SGC too. They aren’t as intensive as it’s done to protect team mates more than get a prosecution but it still takes a while to document everything.”

“How is that even a thing?” Wil asked horrified.

“After Hanson bit the big one, I gave George a piece of my mind about bringing on someone who had a history of sexual assault. Carter never admitted it directly. I don’t want rapists on my base and I don’t want any false accusations either.” He explained thinking back to the times SG-1 had stood outside the private room Carter was being examined in, letting no one in and assuring she had total confidentiality through the entire process. One episode that had been far too close, they had taken her home and she’d slept between Daniel and himself holding each of their hands tightly even in her sleep. Teal’c had stood guard over them the entire night. She’d had nightmares anyway.

“How do you guys deal with this crap?” Wil said looking sick as he bounced Gracie on his hip.

“By being there for each other no matter what.” Jack told him and put a hand on his shoulder. “She’s tough. She’ll be ok.”

“I’m going to stay over for a few nights.” Jon said to Wil but looked at Jack who nodded.

“That’s fine sport but why?”

“Nightmares.” Jon said. This wasn’t technically his first rodeo.

“That bad?” Wil said concerned.

“Oh yah.” Jon affirmed. “I’m probably going to end up in bed with her more than not sir.” He didn’t look even slightly apologetic about it.

“I’ll see if anyone is cleared on the outside to see her, otherwise she’s going to have to come into the base to get therapy.” Jack told Jon. From his personal experience she’d need it. At least for a couple months anyways.

* * *

“I hate these.” Sammy admitted.

“How many have you had?” Mary asked Sam and Sammy.

“Three so far, this will be the fourth.” Sammy said though her memories of this experience were the other woman’s.

“That’s going to be tough to explain to the cops.”

“Yah, I’m going to have to pretty much lie unless we go through a military tribunal and I give a deposition that is heavily redacted.” Sammy admitted.

“Jack is going to give you crap for not staying out of trouble, you know.” Sam said in amusement.

“Hey! I didn’t ask that idiot to try to rape me. I did warn him it was his last chance to let me go.” Sammy said, thunder in her eyes.

“They never listen when you warn them.” Sam agreed.

“I’m not shut up so easily.” Sammy said with a glint that the older Sam shared a wicked smile with the girl about.

“Did I miss something?”

“On one of my early missions, a tribal leader really didn’t care for my tendency to stand up to his nonsense. I beat him in a knife fight.” Sam said rather gleefully. It had been the turning point of Jack’s admiration for her going from simple appreciation of her appearance to respecting her as a fellow officer. She also suspected that whole series of events had solidified his feelings for her as well.

“And I thought I was tough being from Detroit.” Mary said with a chuckle. Sammy and Sam grinned at her.

Just then the nurse came in with a swab kit and a digital camera. “Hi, I’m Lacie. I know this is a difficult process and I’m going to have to ask you some questions that make you uncomfortable but I need honest answers from you for all of them ok?”

Sammy nodded skeptically at the girl. In her reality, honest meant something very different than most people’s version of the word.

“So this isn’t an endless process like it usually is I’m going to record this session and a transcriber will write it out later. Is that acceptable?”

Sammy shrugged. “If it gets me out of here sooner, sure.”

“We’ll need a copy for our attorney.” Sam told the nurse.

She nodded. “Absolutely. The goal is to get sexual predators behind bars after all.”

Mary looked at Sam who returned her look. “He’s going to jail. Jack is already on the horn with JAG.”

“Good.” Was all Mary trusted herself to say.

“All right,” Lacie said and looked at Sam, “mom, some of these questions might upset you as might the answers. I need you to let your daughter be honest so we can nail this guy ok?”

“Oh I’m not her mom.” Sam said shaking her head.

“I’m terribly sorry, it’s just you look so much alike I presumed.” The nurse trailed off. Mary snorted in amusement and Sam rolled her eyes.

“I’m her foster mom, Sam here is her biological aunt.”

“Oh. I see.” It was clear she kind of didn’t but had enough sense to keep her questions to herself. She turned on the recording and had Sammy state her full name, age and date of birth first. “All right, lets get started then with the easy ones. When did the attack occur?” While she asked the question she set up the camera settings for a distance shot.

“At about fifteen thirty today.”

“So about three thirty in the afternoon standard time.” Lacie said to clarify. “Could you please remove your gown? I’m going to take about four distance shots of your injuries then get some close ups. Where did the attack occur?”

Sam helped Sammy untie the gown and she stood with her arms at her sides facing the camera for the first shot. “Across from the Perry Drugs on B Street and Lashelle.”

Lacie had her turn around to get a photo of her back. “Do you know who did this to you?”

“Yes. His name is Conner Harris.”

Sammy was told to stand with her left side to the camera with her arm up. “How do you know Conner Harris?”

“He sent my boyfriend to the hospital during a hockey game by shoving a stick into his gut then punching him hard enough to cause internal bleeding.” Sammy spat with venom.

Sam raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

“Did your assailant ejaculate on you or in you?” Lacie asked her after she’d taken a similar photo of her right side.

“Not in me and not on me to my knowledge.” Sammy replied as she complied to another photo being taken.

“Elaborate on ‘to your knowledge’?”

“I wasn’t paying attention to anything but getting away, if he ejaculated while he was rubbing on me it would be on my clothes but I didn’t notice at the time.”

“Has anyone else ejaculated on or in you within the last twenty four hours or while you had your previous clothing on?” She was photographing the scrapes on Sammy’s knees and cataloging the photos.

“Er… no.”

“You hesitated.”

“It wasn’t in the last twenty four hours.” Sammy hedged.

“Samantha…” Mary said.

“I swear we didn’t do anything other than make out Aunt Mare. Honest.” Sammy told her, shoulders hunched.

“We’ll discuss it later young lady.” Mary told her firmly.

“Where did your assailant touch you?” Lacie asked after photographing Sammy’s chin and the inside of her mouth where she’d bit herself.

“He grabbed my arms and later my ankles and he was on top of me for a few minutes, I don’t know where all he touched at that point.”

“Did he lick you or bite you?”

“I didn’t give him a chance to.” She said with steel in her voice.

“Had you been drinking?”

“No. I don’t drink.”

“Were you under the influence of any narcotics or other drugs?

“No. I don’t do drugs.”

“Have you had a shower or bathed in any way?”

“No, I came straight here.”

“You told me you were not penetrated but we still have to do a genital exam. Have you been sexually active with someone besides the assailant within the last seventy two hours?”

Sammy hunched her shoulders. “My boyfriend.” She said extremely softly.

Mary growled behind her and Sammy put her head up defensively. “He only used his fingers and only to... to…”

“I know what he used his fingers to do Samantha.” Mary told her flatly.

Lacie had a few more questions while she finished up taking photos and then swabbed Sammy’s mouth and vagina for possible evidence before she did her bloodwork. “All right you can get dressed now. I’m sorry this is a difficult experience and the questions are invasive. It’s the only way to establish events.” She looked at Sam and Mary apologetically. Her eyes fell to Sammy. “I hope they put him away for a very long time. You got lucky being able to overpower him.”

Sammy shook her head. It hadn’t been luck. It was years of training. Were she actually her thirteen year old self, she’d be a statistic now.


	5. The Bright Blessed Day

**Chapter 5 – The Bright Blessed Day**

Mary had brought Sammy a clean outfit at Sam’s insistence as she knew her clothes would be confiscated even if they weren’t damaged. Not that Sammy would have wanted to put them back on again ever in any case. What Sammy really wanted was a shower. To scrub every inch of her body of even the most remote possibility of any bit of Conner off her skin. She settled for getting dressed.

Mary came over and hugged her tightly and Sammy burst into tears. “I’m so sorry, Aunt Mare. I don’t know why I didn’t want to tell you about him threatening me and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Jon and I have been doing some stuff like we have been but I just…” She trailed off.

“Shh. It’s ok. I understand. You didn’t want us to worry if it was all talk. I used to be the same way at your age. Cry all you want sweetie.” She told her, rocking her gently. She’d deal with the other stuff later once she knew exactly how far they had been going with each other and knew how clear they were with each other about what they expected. Hormones could make even the smartest people dumb and slightly crazy and the situation last month had probably affected their ability to be reasonable.

Sam smiled softly as she leaned against the wall. Mary was a good mom. Not that Sammy needed a lot of mothering but she’d have given anything to have a hug from Janet the last time she’d gotten whumped.

“How about we get out of here? I bet the guys would like to know you are ok Sammy.” Sam said but honestly she mostly meant Jon though it looked like it was Wil that Jack had to talk down from the edge this time. Clearly a dad thing as her dad had been known to lose his shit for far less. Hopefully he’d traumatize Sammy a bit less about her sexual activities then her dad did when he’d found out she’d been sleeping with Jack. Sam missed her dad. She didn’t miss the chronic scrutiny of her relationship with her husband however. Weirdly her dad had tried to hook her up with Daniel at first which had been… awkward. He’d stopped after Sam had confirmed she was seeing Jack but some of the conversations about the man she thought of as a brother had been downright weird.

Sammy sniffled a little and gave Sam a watery smile. She knew what Sam was trying to do after all. “Aunt Mare, can you wait to talk to uncle Wil about Jon and me until after I talk to both of you myself?”

Mary looked at her for a long moment and reminded herself that this thirteen year old child was nearly forty mentally. “I’ll chalk it up as mitigating circumstances as you guys just came out of a really weird situation last month. You’re still thirteen though physically so throttle back a bit ok?”

Sam snorted in amusement which made Sammy giggle a little. “In her defense Mary it’s SG-1’s fault they didn’t see each other for most of a month. We aren’t exactly proficient in dividing up resources. Landry just kind of rolls with it usually.” She shrugged. How did one write up one’s superior officer for going AWOL exactly anyways?

“After what you guys put poor Uncle George through, it’s probably better for his emotional health.” Sammy agreed.

“All right, now that we’ve established everyone on my team is wacko, lets go talk to our head wacko and find out how his call to JAG went.” Sam told the two of them. Mary nodded in agreement and Sammy gave her an amused smile. Jack had come clean about the time loop kiss in the gate room after they had gotten safely engaged and he figured she wouldn’t kill him and leave herself an unwed mother now.

“They had someone with the clearance for this available?”

“Apparently at some point George thought it might be prudent to have a few attorneys cleared to defend SGC staff if something went sideways on us.”

“So basically he figured sooner or later you and Jack would get caught.” Sammy said to her.

“We were hardly the only problem couple on that base.” Sam said with a smirk.

They walked through the long hallway back to the waiting area for non-emergency medical treatment.

“If it was such an issue, why didn’t he just switch one of you with someone on another team to take you out of his chain of command?” Mary asked her in interest. She knew a bit more now about what Sam and Jack did after the long conversation she’d been included in after they got home from the rescue mission.

“Because it wasn’t really. The military sold civilians on; ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ that it was to protect people regarding issues of personal sexuality but it applied to all sexual relationships. As long as George didn’t ask us directly and neither of us said anything about it to anyone military there was nothing the military could technically do to us if we didn’t fool around on base or during missions. That caught us some heat a few times off-world but we were always able to explain it away with mission protocols.

“Basically aunt Mare, as long as they didn’t get caught making out in the supply closet on base or reported for anything while on a mission nothing was going to happen to them even if someone saw them out on a date together.”

“Plausible deniability.” Mary said.

“Exactly.” Sammy and Sam agreed together.

“That has to be much harder on a closed base.” Mary surmised.

“Oh yah. More than once we had a rough patch where the mountain was on lock down or we were stuck on a mission for weeks on end.” Sam agreed. “It’s amazing how deaf dumb and blind a base commander will get about things to avoid paperwork.”

Mary scoffed out a laugh. “It seems like it might be easier to just get rid of those rules.”

“It’s a toss up. They are there to avoid coercion in the ranks as there are commanding officers who would in fact take advantage of subordinates that way.” Sam said. “It also guarantees that people will behave discreetly for the most part on base in the event of a lock down and it definitely makes things easier on mission if you aren’t distracted by sex.”

“Alien influence.” Sammy snorted out.

Sam tried not to grin. “Don’t start that.” She said trying not to laugh.

“What did I miss?” Mary asked them.

“Inside joke.” Sam said chuckling.

“Probing for- “

“Stop!” Sam said with a laugh.

“Ok, ok, but everyone who gets that joke is not stopping by at my house to chat.” Sammy told her older self.

“True. Ah, there are the guys. Is Jon feeding Gracie cookies?” Sam said with exasperation.

“She’s probably already had pudding, cake and jello. We were in there a while.” Sammy told her.

“Her father does the same thing. Her teeth are going to rot out of her head before she’s three.” Sam complained.

Mary laughed. “Men seem to forget dental bills aren’t cheap.” She agreed. “Let’s go back to my place. I’ll cook dinner for everyone while you talk to the attorney.”

“Thank you Mary. We’d appreciate that.” Sam said. She’d become a better cook but she still was only average. Mary on the other hand was an above average cook. They were both accomplished bakers though Sam had not yet mastered pastry and was pondering pestering Mary until she taught her.

Jon on seeing Sammy jumped up and walked over to her agitated, looking closely at her to make sure she was still in one piece emotionally.

“Stop that.” She murmured at him which made Sam chuckle.

“I don’t think he can help it.” Sam told her.

“He can’t.” Jack agreed coming up behind Jon. “You doing all right kiddo?”

“It was weird and invasive but ok. Not much worse than an Ob exam.” She admitted.

“Good. We kind of needed to get Wil away from there.” He told them softly. Wil had _not_ handled this well at all and Jack didn’t want him tearing the place down if he overheard the invasive questions he’d heard Sam be asked after an assault. “JAG should be here any minute.” He said to his wife.

“Mary invited us to dinner, why don’t you call them back and give them Wil and Mary’s address and we can all be more comfortable in a private setting.” Sam suggested.

“Good idea.” Jack told her and flipped open his phone to call the military attorney back.

“Jon, why don’t you and Sammy ride with Jack and I.” Sam suggested. She figured they might want to get their story straight before Mary or Wil jumped on them with both feet about their sexual activities. Not that Sam was a fan of thirteen year old herself being sexually active but she was only thirteen physically and emotionally. They needed to cool things off a bit not put the fire out.

Jon looked at her oddly but nodded her head.

“Tell you in the car.” Sammy said to him under her breath.

“That’s not very reassuring Carter.” He replied back as softly.

“All right campers, JAG is rerouting to the Amos house so let’s get moving.” Jack announced to the small group while scooping up his giggling daughter.


	6. The Dark Sacred Night

**Chapter 6 – The Dark Sacred Night**

The officer from JAG was a middle aged woman with dark skin and hair and piercing black eyes. She had a kind smile though for Sammy as Jack had explained what the situation was.

“I’m going to run a quick sweep before I start dinner.” Mary told them.

“Mind if I come down and check out your work area?” Sam asked. Jack had set her up a mini lab in their own basement but it might be fun to see someone else’s lab away from lab.

“Sure. Try to ignore the mess. I started tearing apart that power converter I signed out last week finally and it’s in chunks all over the place.” Mary admitted.

The two women disappeared into the basement with Gracie to the mutually amused smiles of their husbands.

Sammy had quickly told Jon in the SUV on the ride back to the house that Mary now knew exactly what she and Jon had been up to the night she’d gone over to his apartment a couple weeks ago. Jon had actually blushed. Possibly because he was getting the stink eye from Jack who was elbowed by Sam before returning his eyes to the road.

They decided to tone things down a bit. Jon was going to be staying at the house for a few days anyway as they both knew she was going to have nightmares the first few nights about the day’s events. They wouldn’t have any privacy during that time and they figured Mary would ban her from visiting his apartment alone for a while under the circumstances.

It was an understandable slip of judgment on their part and it was unlikely they would get more than a lecture from Wil about it but they both knew it couldn’t keep happening right now given their physical ages. They had plenty of time after all.

“Jack, can I get you a beer?” Wil asked him.

“Sure. Carter might want one too with dinner.” They left the living area for the large yellow kitchen leaving Jon and Sammy with the JAG officer.

“So, I’m Lt. Ruth Johnson.” The woman told Sammy holding out a hand. “Your uncle has filled me in on some of what’s happened to you. We’ll be going by the station to give an official statement later which I will sit in on. I’m to understand your aunt is familiar with one of the officers on the case?”

“Yah. They used to ‘date’.” Jon told the lieutenant.

She looked at Jon and arched an eyebrow. “Is this going to be a problem?”

“It shouldn’t be.” Jack said, coming back in the room. “Carter ended things amicably as far as I know though I doubt he’s going to be thrilled that she and I got married so quickly after.” He said with a shrug.

“Why would that be a problem?” she asked.

“Well, we got married because Carter was pregnant. It’s not his, but she got pregnant a month and a half after the breakup. A lot of what broke them up was him pushing for her to retire and be a housewife, have some kids, etcetera.” Jack told her.

“And he would see that as a betrayal of their relationship and I assume suspect it was because she’d been cheating.” Lt. Johnson hypothesized out loud.

“That’s probably what I’d think in his shoes. Yup.” Jack agreed.

“If you think this will be a problem I can suggest another officer be assigned to the investigation.” She told Jack.

“Ironically he’s got the clearance to be on the case though not all of it. Just the important stuff.”

“So by not all of it you mean?” Lt. Jonson asked.

“He means Pete knows basically though not specifically what we do at SGC but not that Sammy is my clone and we’d very much like to keep it that way. You were assigned to the case because of your clearance level Lt. Johnson.” Sam told her coming back into the room.

“I’ll assume everyone here today is cleared to have this discussion then?” She looked pointedly at Jon.

“Everyone.” Jack agreed. “If something comes up I’ll handle getting them cleared for it after.”

“All right, then let’s proceed. Sammy, I’m going to record this session so it can be transcribed later if that’s acceptable to you.”

“It is.” She said simply and sat down on the love seat against the peninsula dividing the living space from the kitchen. Jon sat next to her and took her hand.

“Please state your full name and date of birth.”

“Samantha Marie Carter, December 29, 1991.” It had taken her a while to be able to say the correct year automatically but she could do so now without hesitation.

“All right lets go over the day’s events then. Where were you going this afternoon when you were attacked?”

“I was headed home from piano practice when I remembered I needed something from the drug store so I headed for Perry’s on B Street and Lashelle.”

“Did anyone know you were going there today?”

“Not specifically. I told mom I was out of tampons but I didn’t say I was going to get them today. I decided to go because I’m not very regular yet so I keep a couple on me if I can.”

“So there was no way for your assailant to know that was your destination unless he’d been following you.”

Sammy thought for a moment. “I suppose not.” She agreed.

“How do you know the person that assaulted you?”

“Can I answer that question?” Jon asked.

“I don’t see why not. Let the record show the question is being answered by?” She prompted him.

“Jonathan James O’Neill, born October 20th, 1988.” He supplied. “Conner Harris plays JV hockey. Car.. er, I mean Sammy met him the day he took a dirty shot with his stick then punched me in the gut when he thought no one was looking. I ended up with internal bleeding from the injury.”

“Do you two have a past that would give him reason to have assaulted you?” Lt. Johnson asked him.

“Honestly, no. We’d played against each other previously and I didn’t really know him. He tried getting me riled a couple times during face off but I never bit the bate, just told him screw you and ignored him.” Jon told her.

“So is it your believe that the attack on you was unwarranted and unprovoked?”

“It was. I had nothing against the guy and I don’t tend to make enemies on purpose.” Jon said. He glared at Sam who choked back a snort of amusement.

“Allergies.” She lied and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose. Jack smirked.

“Is there something you would like to add Colonel Carter?” Lt. Johnson asked her.

“No. Sorry.” Sam said and pretended to blow her nose again.

“All right so you met him the day he assaulted Jonathan O’Neill at a hockey game. Did he say anything to you?”

“No. I wasn’t paying any attention to him to be honest. I was more concerned about Jon.” Sammy admitted.

“Have you had any encounters with him since that moment?”

“We’ve run into him a few times while out with friends, once at Sandy’s and a few other times as well.” Sammy told her.

“Why did the incident at Sandy’s stick out in your mind that you mentioned it specifically?”

“Because he threatened to rape me in front of my friends. The manager had to throw Conner and his friends out.” Sammy glared thinking about the incident.

“Were there other witnesses?”

“Yes the manager’s daughter and her husband were both there, Ted, her husband was the one who threw out Conner.”

“Good. Witnesses to threats are always welcome in a case like this to establish a pattern of behavior of the assailant.” She jotted something down in her notebook before continuing. “You said there were other times?”

“Yah, we’d run into him sometimes and he’d make remarks and stuff about what he was going to do to her.” Jon replied. “I can probably get you a list of people we were with when it’s happened if you want their statements.”

“That would be useful yes.” Lt. Johnson agreed.

The questions continued for some time until Mary announced dinner was ready. She’d had Gracie in her highchair eating fish crackers to keep her quiet.

“Let’s pick this up after we eat.” Lt. Johnson said and turned off the recorder. “It smells delicious. I haven’t had a home cooked meal in a while.”

“Mary is a great cook. She keeps feeding us the way she does and I won’t fit in my dress jacket much longer.”

“Try jogging sir.” Sam told him in an automatic tone of voice as she sat down next to her daughter. Jack sat on the other side of Gracie.

“Jeeze Carter.” He told his wife who grinned impishly at him.

Wil laughed. “Sam, would you like a beer or a glass of wine with dinner?”

“Thanks Wil, beer is fine.” She told the older man standing by the fridge. “Mary, did you make mashed sweet potatoes?” Sam asked in surprise.

“I had them and I know how much you enjoyed them last time we had them.” Mary replied simply, not reminding the younger woman she’d devoured three servings of them at the time.

“Dig in everyone, we don’t stand on grace.” Wil told them as he handed Sam a beer and a diet coke to Sammy.

* * *

Jon was leaning on Sammy’s shoulder. “I should go grab some clothes for tomorrow.” He told her.

“Got it covered. Daniel will be by in about half an hour with some stuff for you. Jack called him after dinner.” Wil told him.

The JAG officer had left with her recorder and notes on who to contact as witnesses and Wil and Mary were lounging on the couch waiting for Sammy to either fess up to what she’d really done at Jon’s apartment the other night or shelf it until she was ready to talk about it. Sammy though opted to play innocent for a bit more and play with Jon’s fingers instead of talking.

“You kids should go get some rest. I’ll put your bag in the guest room when Daniel brings it Jon.”

Jon nodded.

“Oh and Jon.”

“Yes sir?”

“I don’t think I need to remind you of the house rules, do I?”

“No sir, you do not.” Jon said firmly. Climbing in bed with a scared Carter having a nightmare was allowed. Snuggling her was allowed. Anything beyond that was a kettle of boiling hot water he wasn’t touching.

“Good. Go get some rest guys.”

“Night.” Sammy said softly. Her entire body drooped with fatigue from the day’s events.


	7. The Colors of the Rainbow

**Chapter 7 – The Colors of the Rainbow**

“No. No get away from me Conner.” Sammy told him backing away, her jaw aching where it had slammed into the pavement.

“You’re going to scream my name, you little bitch.”

“NO!”

“Sam! Sammy! Carter!” the familiar voice filtered through her panic and fear. Warm familiar hands gripped her shoulders.

She threw herself out of the nightmare and into his arms, shaking as tears streamed down her cheeks, she gripped his shirt at the shoulders “Jack.” She sobbed.

“Shh. I’m here. You’re safe. Everything is all right Sam.” He told her softly into her hair, holding her tightly.

“God I hate this.” She admitted, still shaking.

“I know. It will pass though. It always has.” He stroked her hair and kissed her temple. “Do you need me to stay here for a while?”

She nodded into his shoulder.

“Ok.” He lay down on the top of her comforter and she cuddled into his shoulder. “Comfy?”

“Yah.” She told him as her hand crept up to his hair and buried her nose in his neck. He didn’t smell like machine oil and leather yet but he smelled like Jack and that’s who she needed most. Within minutes, she was asleep again. A head poked out from the doorway and Jon nodded sleepily at Mary who woke when he left his room. She smiled softly and walked back down the hall.

What Jon wouldn’t be telling any of them was that he’d stayed up until he’d heard her nightmare. He knew too if he left she’d just have another one so he settled in for the night with his arms wrapped around her and tried to get some sleep.

* * *

“Morning Mrs. Bering.” Jon told her with a yawn.

“Good morning dear. Is everything all right?” Jeannie asked him, noting the dark circles under his eyes.

“As OK as it can be I guess. Sammy is a little scraped up but she’s ok. The guy is in lock up for now unless his creepy family posted bail.” He said sourly.

“You know him.” She said perceptively.

“Yah, it’s the guy who took a cheap shot at me during a game a few months back. Apparently he didn’t like that I wasn’t afraid of him after that.” Jon hunched his shoulders.

“So he tried to rape your girlfriend? What a piece of garbage.” She said vehemently.

“No argument from me Mrs. B. What do you need me to do today?” Jon yawned. “I need to leave at fourteen thir… er, two thirty. The JAG officer is taking Sammy to give her statement and I don’t want her to go by herself. She knows the investigating officer and she’s not a fan. Used to date my aunt before she married Uncle Jack.”

“Oh, that’s awkward.” She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you put away the books that came in this morning’s shipment. Your girl keeps cleaning out my science section.” Jeannie chuckled.

“Yah, she does that.” Jon agreed with a slightly sappy grin.

“You’ve got it so bad kid.” Jeannie told him with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Yah.” His grin widened.

She smiled and shook her head. “Ah young love. Go shelf those books. I’ll call Tracy to come in and cover for you again.”

“Thanks Mrs. B.” Jon said, his vice full of appreciation.

“Shoo.” She tells him and goes back to balancing the books on the vintage computer at her desk.

“Hey, I could have Sammy build you a better computer than that.” Jon offered.

“Go. Shelf. Books.” She told him. She’d be darned if some thirteen year old was going to build her a supercomputer so she could fill in spreadsheets and Warren can play minesweeper.

* * *

Lt. Johnson put a hand on Sammy’s shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Remember I’m right here with you. If you aren’t sure if you should answer something, just ask me all right?”

“All right.” She said with a nod as she looked back at Jon who gave her a firm encouraging nod. Just knowing he was here was enough. Pete didn’t know who she was or how she knew him. He had no interest in her personally though Jon had caught the angry look he’d given Sam when she’d kissed Jack. That was going to be all kinds of trouble if Pete wanted to make trouble.

Sitting at the table in the interview room was Pete. Sammy frowned and looked at Lt. Johnson.

“It’s all right Sammy. I’m right here.” The Dark skinned woman told her.

“Please sit Miss Carter.” Pete told Sammy. “You as well, Ms.?”

“Lieutenant Jonson.” Ruth told him firmly.

“Lieutenant.” Pete said in a conciliatory tone. “I’m going to ask you some questions Samantha and I need you to be honest.”

Sammy’s eyes flashed and her fist balled under the table. Sensing her ire, Ruth put a hand on her arm, her eyes met Sammy’s. She gave her a small nod.

“I’m always honest Officer Shanahan.” She told him firmly, her eyes still flashing.

“That’s detective.”

“Is it.” She said with cool disinterest.

Lt. Johnson kept her face impassive but the corner of her mouth twitched.

“Let’s get started then.”


	8. So Pretty in the Sky

**Chapter 8 – So Pretty in the Sky**

“Miss Carter, do you know your assailant?”

“Yes. He’s Conner, Conner Harris. He’s on the JV 2P hockey team.”

“How do you know Mr. Harris?”

“He assaulted my boyfriend previously and has repeatedly threatened both of us afterwards.”

“You’re boyfriend’s name?”

“Jon O’Neill.” She gave him an arch look.

“Of course it is. All right, when and how did he assault your boyfriend?”

“It was during a hockey game. He high-sticked him in the gut intentionally then sucker punched him after. He ended up with internal bleeding and required emergency surgery to stop the hemorrhaging.”

“Did you have a relationship with Mr. Harris prior to or after that incident? A sexual relationship perhaps?”

“I’d rather fu-“

“Ah!” Lt. Johnson admonished her.

“No. I wouldn’t have a sexual relationship with that jerk if he were the last male on the planet.”

“Are you sexually active?”

“Not in the way you mean no.”

“Which way do you think I mean?”

“Penetration.”

“Fine.” He huffed. “Did you tell him no?”

“Repeatedly.” She said firmly.

“What were you wearing?”

“A t-shirt, shorts, my backpack.”

“Were you dressed provocatively?”

“What? NO! It was warm out and I had on shorts.”

“Did you consent and then change your mind?”

Sammy glared and looked at Ruth.

“She made it clear she never consented, officer Shanahan. Move on with the line of questioning.” Lt. Johnson told him firmly.

“Were you under the influence of drugs or alcohol?” Pete asked her, ignoring the attorney.

Sammy rolled her eyes. “Do I look like I drink or do drugs?”

“Answer the question Miss Carter.”

“I don’t drink. I’ve never done drugs.” She told him flatly.

“Are you certain his intent was sexual assault?”

“Absolutely positive.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s repeatedly threatened to rape me and told me he’d make me scream his name while he did so.” Sammy stared him in the eyes until he looked down at his notes. Ruth smiled a little. Good girl, she thought.

“Why did you call your boyfriend’s uncle before you called the police?”

“Because I knew he’d pick up no matter where he was.”

“You’re close then with him?”

“He’s my aunt’s husband. I baby sit their daughter. Yes.”

Pete went very still and Sammy got a rather smug and slightly mean half smile. Eat that you slimy manipulative shrub. She _never_ loved you the way she loves him she thought.

“Why didn’t you call the police first?”

“Because I wanted my aunt, not to be accused of asking for it.” Sammy’s eyes glinted.

“Why didn’t you call your aunt?”

“I didn’t know if she was near a phone. I was fairly certain he would be and that he’d contact her right away if they weren’t together.”

“Because he’s her husband.”

“Correct.” Sammy’s mean smile got a little bit bigger and Pete noticed it.

“All right I’m going to have you describe the assault to me to the best of your ability. What do you remember?”

“I was riding my bike home when I remembered I needed to buy tampons. The drug store was only a couple blocks out of my way so I changed directions and headed for the Perry’s on B Street and Lashelle. I was on the bike path and saw a Harris construction work van parked in front of one of the houses. I had no reason to believe it was Conner so I didn’t see him until I was too close to swerve out of the way. I sped up but he used a piece of rebar to stuff up my front wheel and I flipped over the handlebars and landed on the pavement ahead of me. I cracked my jaw pretty hard; it was bleeding and I bit the inside of my cheek. I remember spitting out blood at some point.”

“What happened after that?”

“He said he wanted to help me up but grabbed my arm hard enough to hurt and leave a bruise that I still have. I told him to let me go and he pretended like he was just being nice.”

“How do you know he was pretending?”

“Because he’s threatened to hurt me before. There were always people around though so he never actually touched me until then.”

“All right, what happened after he grabbed you?”

“He pulled me up and tried to drag me to the back of his van.”

“Did you scream or otherwise try to call attention to the situation?”

“No. No one was around. No one would have heard me.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It’s a really quiet neighborhood and it was before rush hour so most people weren’t at home.”

Pete scribbled something in his notes. “Continue.”

“He dragged me to the back of the van and let go with one hand so he could open the van door, so I kneed him in the crotch to get him to let me go which he did but I must not have done it hard enough because he hit me in the side of the head. I ducked and twisted behind him to try to get away by sweeping his legs with my ankle. He fell and I started to back up but he was able to grab my ankles and pulled me down too. I landed hard on my tailbone on the pavement and he jumped on top of me.

“He pulled me back up, grabbed my breast and twisted it then ripped my shirt open. So I punched him as hard as I could in the head and he let go because he was out cold.” She said with vicious satisfaction.

“Then I kicked him a couple times to make sure he was really out and not faking, sat down on the curb, threw up, and called uncle Jack.” She took a shaky breath. Ruth patted her shoulder.

Pete looked at his notes. “Is there any reason to believe he thought you were in a relationship with him?”

“Seriously?” Sammy asked him incredulously. “Oh my god…”

“Officer Shanahan, Miss Carter has already answered that question.” Lt. Johnson told him.

“Fine. Do you have witnesses to the stated other confrontations?”

“As a matter of fact, we do.” Ruth told him with a smug smile. “Mr. and Mrs. MacArthur and their daughter are very enthusiastic about coming in to make statements.” Ruth told him with a grin. “I also have Mr. O’Neill’s coach and the refs from the game in question and one of their teachers who had to physically remove Mr. Harris from school grounds during a dance for making threats to both Miss Carter and Mr. O’Neill. There are also several classmates who were witnesses to Mr. Harris’ threats.

Pete looked hard at the Lieutenant. “All of them want to make a statement?”

“And testify. This kid has a pattern of harassment and threats towards my client.”

“Why haven’t you come in to put a PPO on him if he’s been threatening you this long and this often?”

“You asked me if I do drugs and what I was wearing.” Sammy told him pointedly.

“Miss Carter did not feel a PPO would have any specific advantage legally or in terms of actual protection and has received sufficient self defense training from her family to feel confidant that she could overpower an assailant. It is apparent that in this case she was correct in her estimation of her abilities.”

Pete got the distinct impression by the pair of smug smiles that if it wasn’t inappropriate to high five after that statement, they would have. “So noted. Well, I don’t have anything else for you at this time. I’ll get in contact with you if we have any more questions.”

“Thank you officer.”

“Detective.”

“Ah yes, how forgetful of me.” Ruth said. “Samantha, let’s go.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Both walked out, leaving Pete to sit a moment. All he could think about were the girl’s words ‘he’s my aunt’s husband, I babysit their daughter’. Had she even ended things before she fell into bed with him? Had she been screwing him all along? Was that how she knew it wasn’t his kid?

* * *

“How did it go?” Wil asked Sammy.

“I have no idea what she saw in him.” Sammy said viciously.

“I’m sure he’s just doing his job.” He said conciliatory.

“Sure he was.” Jon said but his tone was snide. No one needed to ask what his opinion of Detective Shanahan was as he’d made it clear at length on the ride over. He hugged Sammy. “He’s a douche.”

“Yup.” She agreed.

“Hopefully if we keep General O’Neill and Colonel Carter away from the investigation there won’t be an issue.” Lieutenant Johnson told them.

“Yah good luck with that.” Jon said under his breath. Wil smirked. The kid had a point. Jack was not known for staying out of things that concerned him.

“All right. Let’s go home everyone. Jon, do you need to call work?” Mary asked him.

“Nah, Mrs. B. called in her daughter to cover the rest of my shift. She’s totally cool with it.” Jon told Mary.

“Good. She seems nice.”

“Oh yah, she’s great. Mr. B. is pretty awesome too.”


	9. The Faces of People Going By

**Chapter 9 – The Faces of People Going By**

“Thanks Jack.”

“Any time kiddo. Just make it quick, you can gossip and giggle in the car.”

“I do not gossip and giggle.” Sammy told him in a superior and injured tone.

Jack made eye contact with her in the rear view mirror and he gave her a smirk that made her stomach flip in recognition. She blushed but had the sudden realization that while she was still very attracted to Jack, it was Jon who she had feelings for. Jack was getting to be more like the hot dad she babysits for and not in the creepy way she just thought that.

He was dressed in his blues, his cover on the seat next to him as he was headed to Washington after he dropped the girls off at the movie theater. “What are you guys going to see?”

“Atlantis the Lost Empire.” She said a little amused.

Jack choked for a second. “Aren’t you a little old for cartoons?”

“Says the guy obsessed with Homer Simpson...”

“That’s different.”

“The main character looks and acts like Daniel.” She said defensively.

“Oh fer cryin out loud.” He muttered. “As long as you guys have fun I guess.” He grinned. “It’s a little weird that you want to watch a cartoon about your other self’s job.”

“I could always use it as research.” She said grinning back.

“Were you this weird the last time you were thirteen?”

“A little weirder actually. It was the 80s after all and I was obsessed with Mount Saint Helen blowing up.” She giggled.

“What do you have against liking normal things Carter?” he said laughing.

“I like you.” She reminded him.

Jack cracked up as he pulled up to the Fodor house “That’s not a glowing endorsement for normal.” He reminded her still chuckling. “Go get your friend.”

“Sir, yes sir!” she said saluting him.

“Knock that off.” He laughed.

Sammy jumped out of the SUV and knocked on the front door. It swung open, the dark haired girl that reminded Jack a bit of Inah when he thought about it poked her head out, said something in an exasperated tone. She disappeared back into the house though and Sammy stood there for a couple minutes with progressively more agitated body language.

Jack glanced at his watch and huffed. He slipped his cover back on and walked up to the porch. “What’s the problem?” He asked Sammy from behind his sunglasses.

Sammy huffed. “Mrs. Fodor gave Lynn a list of crap she wants done before she leaves. She does this all the time. She waits until Lynn is half ready and gives her a huge list of crap to do so she’ll be frazzled and panicked because she’s late now.”

“Well that’s not acceptable.” Jack said with a scowl. He squared his shoulders and rapped hard on the front door.

The door swung open to reveal a tall thin woman taking a drag off a cigarette. “You were told to wai-“

“Ma’am.” Jack growled and stared her down from his 6’2” frame. “I have a schedule to keep.”

She took a drag off her cigarette and blew out the smoke in Jack’s direction. “And my daughter has chores.” She said with a sneer.

“Ma’am, the United States Air Force isn’t interested in your lack of household cleanliness issues and I have an appointment to make.” His face set into a firm scowl and had he taken off his sunglasses she would have seen his glare.

“Well you seem very important. I’m sure they will wait for you.” She told him flippantly.

“Ma’am there is exactly one woman that is allowed to delay me from a meeting in Washington with the President of the United States. She’s an astrophysicist, and she isn’t here.” Jack gave her a lopsided amused smile at his technicality. “Lynn!” He shouted, “Time to go. You can finish whatever nonsense your mother wants you to do later. Henry is expecting me for a chat.”

“Coming General!” Lynn shouted back. You could hear the smile in her voice to be leaving on time instead of being late, hot and sweaty trying to rush through chores that magically appeared half an hour ago while she was getting dressed.

Sammy beamed at Jack who gave her an amused smirk.

He went back to scowling though when he looked at Lynn’s mom. “You know, ma’am, I’ve had a lot of COs. Generally I didn’t respect the ones that pulled crap just to prove they were the one with the power. If you were serving under me I’d dress you down for talking to a subordinate the way you did my niece. I’d probably have you court martialed for the way you treat your daughter.”

“How I treat my daughter is none of your business.” She said defensively but there was a little fear edging around her superior attitude.

“I’d be _happy_ to make it my business... Ma’am.” He leaned forward just slightly. It was a cheap intimidation tactic but she cowered back slightly anyways. He hated people who treated kids this way. He felt nothing but contempt for the woman.

Mrs. Fodor turned to her daughter. “As soon as you get back I expect you to finish every last thing on that list.” She was clearly trying to save face now pretending it was her own idea to be altruistic.

Lynn nodded, her face expressionless.

“Ready to go?” Jack asked Lynn with a smile.

“Yes sir.” She said smiling back.

“Agh! Quit calling me sir. My name is Jack. Uncle Jack if you are determined to be formal.” He admonished her. Laughing as they walked away from the house. The door behind them nearly slammed shut after Lynn’s mom heard the exchange.

“It’s the uniform.” Sammy told him. “You look spiffy in it.”

“Spiffy, Carter?” He asked her archly.

She giggled. “Yes sir.”

“Oh for cryin out loud get in the car!” Jack threw his hands up and laughed even harder.

* * *

“You didn’t need to keep thanking him. Jack is always nice like that. He’s like... Brian... only the Arnold Schwarzenegger of Brian.”

Lynn giggled. “Get in the SUV if you want to live.” She said in a thick Austrian accent.

“It’s not a chore list.” Sammy said in the same accent then laughed as she linked elbows with her best friend walking companionably through the mall attached to the movie theater.

“Oh ew, Karen is here.” Lynn said.

“Is she headed to the theater?” Sammy asked her.

“Doesn’t look like it but let’s avoid her anyways. You’ve had a bad enough week already.” She looked at Sammy with concern. She seemed to be holding up well but Sammy was very good at hiding her emotions. Lynn would know. She was good at that herself.

“I’m ok. You guys don’t need to hover. He’s in jail right now and hopefully his family has enough sense not to post bail.”

“I hate to say it but don’t count on that.” Lynn told her.

“Well, I can hope and I have you guys and Mary and Wil and Sam and Jack and Lieutenant Johnson all watching my six.”

“The only one watching your ‘six’ is Jon.” Lynn said giggling.

“He better be the only one.” Sammy laughed and high fived Lynn.

“So how does Jon like his job?” Lynn asked her.

“He loves it. Mrs. B. is super nice and has been really understanding this week even when Jon showed up late because he didn’t get any sleep.”

“Was he up all night playing x-box?”

“No, I’ve been having nightmares. He’s been staying at the house and I know him well enough to know that he’s not going to sleep until after he’s woken me up from the first one.”

“First one? How many are you having per night?”

“Usually only one but sometimes a second one too. Sometimes it gets mixed up with other stuff from the past that scared me at the time.”

“God Sammy, that really sucks. I’m sorry.”

“I promise I’ll be ok. Jon comes in, gives me a big hug, we cuddle for a while and I go back to sleep on his shoulder. It’s like having a big warm teddy bear.” She said with an amused grin.

“He’s cuddly anyways so I’m really not even remotely shocked.”

“There are worse things than having a cuddle bug for a boyfriend.”

“As long as you’re into it.” Lynn agreed.

“What’s with those security guards?” Sammy asked getting an odd feeling that something was wrong.

“No idea.” Lynn admitted “They look like they are coming our way though.”

“Miss Carter?” a security guard reached them. “Would you come with us please?”

“What’s this about?” Sammy asked suspiciously.

“Everything is fine, we just need you to come with us please. It will only take a few moments. Your friend can come too if she wants.” He was an average looking guy and seemed sincere. He had no way of knowing the description he’d been given was for an arrest, only that he was to collect her and take her to the security office. He figured it was for shoplifting as that was usually the case with kids her age.

Lynn narrowed her eyes. Something didn’t feel right about this but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She wished for the 100th time that her mom would let her have a cell phone for emergencies.

“All right, lets get this over with.” Sammy said, her voice dripping with frustration.

“This way miss.” He told her.

* * *

They reached the office and he opened the door. “I’m sure everything is fine.” He told her. The kid didn’t come off as a shoplifter. “Did you leave something in a store by chance with your name on it? That could be what it is.”

“Nothing. I’d have noticed right away.” Sammy said perplexed.

“Well I’m sure it’s nothing kid.” He said and then they saw the Colorado Springs PD officers.

“Samantha Carter?” The blond female officer asked Sammy and Lynn.

“One of them.” Sam said with a sigh.

“Samantha Carter, you are under arrest. Please place your hands behind your back. You have the right to remain silent…”

“What am I being asserted for?” Sammy demanded.

“Domestic Assault. You have the right to an attorney…”

“Who I want right now. Her name is Lt. Johnson. She’s JAG.” Sammy said with a mutinous scowl.

“You can call her at the station. If you cannot afford an attorney…”

“Oh for crying out loud I understand my rights. Lynn, call Aunt Mare and Sam. Tell them what’s happened.”

“Sam is going to freak out.” Lynn said horrified.

“Not half as much as Uncle Jack will.” Sammy told her.

Lynn’s mouth dropped open when she realized how right Sammy was. “Can they court martial a general for losing his shit?”

“Only if he actually starts shooting people.” Sammy said with a tight grin.

“If you two are done…” One of the cops said in exasperation. He didn’t give a crap how mad some eighty year old grandpa was going to get.

Meanwhile the blond officer cuffed Sammy. “You got a way to get home kid?” She asked Lynn.

“Oh I’ll be dropping by your office real soon.” She replied with a malicious smile. And she was bringing an Air Force colonel with her. She turned to the security guard who was giving the cops dirty looks “Can I borrow your phone please? My psycho mom won’t let me have a cell phone.”

“Sure kid. Call whoever you need.” The security manager told her after an exchange of looks with the guard that had brought the girls in.

“Domestic assault?” the guard said curiously after Sammy was taken away.

“Well if you call beating the shit out of a guy that tried to rape her in a van domestic assault then yah.”

“Good for her.”

“Yah.”

“You gonna call your mom then?”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said she’s psycho. No. I’m calling Sammy’s foster mom and her aunt who’s an Air Force Colonel.”

“What about her uncle?”

“He’s on his way to DC to a meeting with the president. He really is a General, like really high up too. I saw him in uniform today. He’s got more medals than Patton.

* * *

“What do you mean arrested?!” Mary all but shouted into the phone. “No, Wil and I will be there soon. Are you ok? Are you sure? Do you want me to call your mom? Oh no I guess that is a bad idea if Jack did that.” In spite of herself Mary chuckled. Jack apparently had made a lasting first impression on Lynn’s mom. “All right. Just stay there. One of us will come pick you up.”

Mary sat back and sighed heavily. I don’t think I’d want to be one of Colorado Springs finest in about half an hour. She dialed the number Lt. Johnson had given her to call if they had any questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN3: Lyn’s last name means wavy or curly hair. Heh. Brian’s last name means saint.


	10. Friends Shaking Hands

**Chapter 10 – Friends Shaking Hands**

Outwardly Sam looked cool and calm. Inwardly she was a raging inferno of fury. She knew from her conversation that JAG was on its way to handle this latest dumpster fire of stupidity so she headed straight for Pete’s desk with Gracie on her hip busily chewing on water filled frozen Cookie Monster.

“Find a conference room.” She snarled at him when he looked up from his paperwork.

“Well hello to you too Sam.” He greeted her mildly. “Something I can do for you today?”

“Conference room or this entire station gets enough personal dirt on you to ruin your career.” She said coldly.

“You aren’t the type.” He scoffed.

“You have no idea whatsoever what type I am. Do it, or I start chewing you a new ass here and now.”

“Fine, follow me.”

* * *

“These charges are ridiculous and you know it.” Ruth told the officer who had arrested Sammy.

“Look Lieutenant, I just follow orders. There was a warrant for her arrest. We got tip that she was at the Citadel so we asked security to pick her up if they spotted her.”

“And you didn’t question any of this?”

“Why would we? It’s an arrest warrant. They don’t care what age she is.”

“She’s a sexual assault victim who was defending herself. Who issued the warrant?”

“Um, lets see, looks like Perry.”

“Get them.” Ruth told him firmly.

“He’s in the field.”

“Fine. Here’s my contact information. Tell him to call me at his first convenience or I’ll have him picked up by MPs.” She told the cop with a glittering glare.

“Yah. Ok. So, um, the kid is in booking. You can take her home as soon as they get done taking her mug shot.”

“Terrific.” Ruth said flatly.

* * *

“I’m sure she’s fine Wil. Sammy is a smart kid. She knows how to handle herself. The first thing she did was ask for Ruth and I’m sure she knew not to say anything once she requested an attorney.”

“That’s all well and good Mare but she’s a kid and she’s been through enough crap this week. What kind of scumbag piece of crap puts out a warrant on the victim for fighting back?”

“A lawyer that doesn’t know how deep the shit-field will get for falsifying a report to discredit a plaintiff whose entire family is military.” She said with some venom to her voice.

“I hope Ruth eats them for breakfast. Where’s Sam?”

“Having words with Detective Shanahan I imagine.”

“What for?”

“Apparently they used to date before she got married to Jack and he doesn’t seem to be concerned enough to give anyone a heads up on the case when little things like arrest warrants are issued against a thirteen year old.”

“Oh yah, I could see why she might be a bit miffed.” He said dryly.

“Really? You’re making jokes?”

“It’s that or I go punch some cops. You pick.” He said with a shrug.

Mary shook her head and smiled a little.

Lynn was standing off to the side, her arms around her middle staring out the window of the waiting room. No one had called Jon yet. Mary had said to let him work as there was nothing he could do right now. Lynn wished for the second time today that her mom wasn’t so weird. She really thought someone should at least text him.

* * *

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Excuse me?” Pete asked her.

“I thought Maybourne was an idiot but you are just about as stupid as believing the earth is flat.” Sam told him viciously.

“That’s really uncalled for. Especially coming from you.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not the one that called off the wedding less than a month before.”

“So what? You think because you are angry at me it’s ok to screw over a thirteen year old kid?”

“I did no such thing.” He huffed.

“Didn’t you? So what, you just happened to be incompetent on accident? When the warrant was issued you should have called her parents or her attorney, hell you could have called me if you didn’t have other options but you opted to let her be randomly arrested in public. At a shopping mall.” She hissed at him.

“I’m not obligated to warn people when they have an arrest warrant out for them.”

“Not even for a child? Not even my niece?”

“Oh you mean the niece I’ve never heard of until this case. Something else classified? Is the father of your daughter classified too?” He said mockingly. “Oh I heard how you banged some random guy after breaking things off with me. You’re just lucky your former boss is stupid enough to believe it’s his kid.” He smiled meanly. “Tell me Sam, how drunk did you have to get him to get him to sleep with you after you found out you were pregnant?”

“If you were on my turf Pete, I’d knock you out for that remark.” She spat at him. “He’s twice the man you are and always has been. He’s known from the start who her father is.”

“Oh I get it. It was a pity marriage, huh?”

“What the hell Pete? What the hell did I ever do to you besides be honest that I knew the marriage I had doubts about from the start wouldn’t work and isn’t this exchange proof that it wouldn’t have? Were you going to act this petty every time I told you the truth and you didn’t like it? No wonder your first marriage failed.” She scoffed. “And the worst part is you’re punishing a girl with a bright future because you’re mad that I told you the truth. I may have not loved you the way you needed me to, but I honestly don’t think you ever loved _me_ at all.” She told him, disgusted.

“You better hope this blows over for her or I’m going to make sure I ruin your career right back. The Air Force will never let her in with an arrest record.” She said to him with contempt.

“Is that just your family mantra? Groom ‘em up for the chair force?”

“You know what Pete, screw you. Once this is over I never want to see you again. Have your partner handle the case. She can’t be more incompetent than you are so far.”

“Fine with me. I’ve had enough of your crazy family anyway and the sooner you are out of my life the better.” He yelled back.

“God my dad was so right about you.” She said shaking her head and walking out of the conference room. Digging around in her life again like it was any of his business. She’d had it with him. Jack could do whatever he wanted about this now.


	11. How Do You Do

**Chapter 11 – How Do You Do**

“So Wil tells me Sam finally confronted the shrub.” Jon said. “Kind of wish I’d been there to see it.”

“Kind of wished I hadn’t been.” She admitted. They were sitting on the bench in the back of the yard where they sat the first time he’d come over. Wil’s lent roses were blooming and the weather was balmy.

“Look at it this way Carter, you’ve added ‘arrested’ to your list of life experiences. You didn’t have that one before.” He said with a soft chuckle.

“Jon.” She said laughing.

“Much better.” He said with a nod.

She leaned on his shoulder. “Thank you. It’s been a really crappy day.”

“You’re telling me. No one even told me you were in the pokey until I got home.” He told her in a fake injured tone.

“What - so you could take photos?”

He laughed. “Possibly.” He admitted and grinned when she punched him lightly in the shoulder.

“Speaking of taking photos, come on.” He got up and grabbed her hand to pull her up.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere to get your mind off all this crap.” He said waggling his hand.

“Oh?”

“Yup. Wil said I could borrow the car and everything.”

“Uncle Wil said you can drive his car.” She said to him incredulously.

“Carter.” He said in exasperation.

“Would you pick a personality.”

Jon laughed. “Hey! It’s hard to pretend to be sixteen when I’m nearly fifty.”

She looked him up and down slowly as she raised an eyebrow. “It might be because I’m physically thirteen but I’m _very_ glad you aren’t pushing fifty.” She ran a finger down his chest and he groaned.

“God Carter. You’re killing me.” He admitted and gave her a smoldering look. “I’m glad you aren’t thirty five.”

Sammy blushed. “Ok, down boy. I’m already in enough trouble for us doing that.”

“Yah, yah. You didn’t tell them it was your idea I bet.” He teased her.

“Of course not. Why would I tell them that part?” She batted her eyelashes at him.

“You’re evil Sammy.”

“You guys keep telling me that.” She said impishly and led him back into the house.

* * *

Sammy laughed when they pulled into the parking lot. “The Zoo?” She asked giggling.

“Yes Carter. The zoo. Elephants. Wolves. Tigers. Monkeys.” He grinned.

“Ok.” She said to him, grinning back.

“Let’s go take some nice pictures of gorillas giving each other oral and eat popcorn until we barf.”

Sammy laughed. “That’s just gross.”

“Which part?”

“Both.” She hooked her elbow into his and smiled up at him. “You literally have shot up a foot in the last six months.”

“Yah I remember having some crazy growth spurts. My shins are killing me honestly.”

“I think Brian’s mom makes something that will help with that.”

“Oh you are _not_ making me use one of Sankt’s mom’s crazy potions.

“The elderberry stuff got rid of your cold in two days.” She admonished him.

“I was desperate. I’d have drunk bleach if I thought it might help at that point.”

“I think this one you just rub on and it makes your bones stop aching.”

“Beer works for that too.” Jon said with a shrug.

“I thought Sam put a stop to Jack giving you beer?”

“She has to catch him first.” He said with a grin.

“Then I guess you had better behave or I’ll tattle on you to Sam.” She said grinning.

“Are you, Carter, are you blackmailing me?”

“Possibly.” She said with an amused grin. “Is it working?”

“If I buy you a stuffed polar bear will you keep that bit of blackmail in your shirt for a while?”

Sammy stiffened.

“Shit. I’m sorry.” Jon frowned as he turned and cupped her face in his free hand. “You know I love you.”

She turned into his hand, closing her eyes and nodding slightly. “I know.”

He pulled her to him and hugged her as he buried his face in her hair. “I wish I was better at thinking before I open my stupid mouth.”

“I’m used to it.” She said with a sniffle.

“I know but I still wish I was better at it.”

Sammy held him tightly. “Jon, I know you would never ever hurt me. You’ve had the chance any number of times and never even thought to take advantage of the situation, even when I couldn’t control myself.”

Jon thought about that for a while. Their first time had been utterly consensual after their first run in with nanites that had aged him by decades. Initially they had agreed to keep things physical and not discuss any feelings they had about it unless one of them became uncomfortable or dissatisfied. There had been a couple times one or the other wasn’t in the right frame of mind about things and those had been the nights they lay holding each other for comfort and initially the only nights they had allowed themselves to stay the whole night.

He never wanted her without her full consent. Ever.

“I’d never violate your trust in me that way.” He told her simply.

“I know Jon. Lets go look at some giraffes and you can buy me a polar bear.”

“You’re in luck. The giraffes are right in the front.” He told her after he kissed the top of her head and led her to the ticket counter. “I’ll buy you a funnel cake.”

“You better!”


	12. I Hear Babies Cry

**Chapter 12 – I Hear Babies Cry**

“Conner Harris, under article one twenty of the military code, you are charged with criminal sexual misconduct. How do you plead?” the officer left of the tribunal head asked in a nearly bored voice.

“My client pleads not guilty sir.” The clearly well off civilian attorney told the Tribunal. “I would also like to lodge a formal protest that this has been shifted to a military court solely on the premise that the plaintiff is the daughter of an officer.”

“Your objection is noted. Due to national security reasons this trial cannot be held in a civilian court.”

“My client has a right to know why Ma’am.”

“Your client, and yourself I might add, Mr. Spearman, do not have even close to the proper clearance level to know why anything in this matter. I suggest you inform your client it would be in his best interests to proceed with the trial or plead guilty.”

“Lt. Jonson, will you be representing your client in the attached civil court case regarding the alleged assault on Mr. Harris?”

“I will Ma’am.”

“You will keep this court informed on it’s progress.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

“We will hear your opening statements.”

Sammy didn’t bother to listen. It wasn’t her first time in court, just her first time as herself and as a plaintiff. She’d been a witness plenty of times. She sat still and politely in her seat knowing Wil and Mary were right behind her. Wil wore his dress blues. Sam and Jack sat with Jon between them, both also in their blues. Jack apparently had some more chest candy. She wondered how he walked without stooping thought she wasn’t technically allowed to ask how he got his recent fruit. They had probably picked it up during that little Ori incident. Sam had picked up a bit more herself, probably in the same mission. 

Conner’s attorney was making his opening statements now and Sammy suddenly realized why Jon was between Jack and Sam. Sixteen year old Jack was far more impulsive than less hormonal adult Jack and it showed. She heard his chair scrape more than once at a turn of phrase he objected to. Not to say Jack wasn’t probably also seething but she knew it was unlikely that he was showing it outwardly and Jon was likely getting repeated sharp looks from the older version of himself.

“Lieutenant Johnson, you may call your first witness.” The tribunal head told Ruth.

“Thank you Ma’am. I’d like to call Victoria MacArthur to the stand.”

The Colonel presiding over the tribunal swore her in. “Mrs. MacArthur, please take a seat.” She told the older woman kindly. “Lt. Johnson, your witness.”

“Mrs. MacArthur, you witnessed an altercation between the defendant and the plaintiff on the evening of November twenty eighth?”

“I did Ma’am, yes.”

“What exactly did you witness?”

“Well, I was running the floor like I always do certain nights because Thursday nights after hockey games, the kids sometimes get a little rowdy, when I saw some kids standing facing each other arguing, so I came closer to see what was going on.”

“And what did you see Mrs. MacArthur?”

“The boys and one of the girls exchanged insults until one of the boys started to tell them he was going to sexually assault their friend.”

“What happened then?”

“The tall kid punched him for it.”

“Was the tall kid her boyfriend?”

“I don’t think so, she was sitting with the sandy haired boy who’d been injured before that.”

“Objection, speculation on the part of the witness.”

“Mrs. MacArthur, did you know the other student was injured?” The colonel asked Vic which was what she’d asked Ruth to call her outside of court.

“I could see by the way he was moving he’d been hurt somehow. My husband had been in a lot of brawls. He used to be a bouncer.”

“I’ll allow it.”

“So the boy she was sitting with, is he in the court room?”

“Yes Ma’am, that would be the tall boy between those two Air Force officers behind Miss Carter’s family.”

“Did you take any action after the defendant was punched?”

“I did ma’am. I had my husband remove him and his buddies for threatening another customer.”

“But not the young man who punched the defendant?”

“He was provoked into it. I clearly heard that boy threaten her and her friend myself.”

“What threats specifically did he make?”

“The one I heard the clearest before he got punched was that the next time they were on the ice he was going to take him out permanently before making a homosexual slur against him and said he was going to bend her over and assault her.”

“And that’s why you only threw out the one group of kids?”

“Yes Ma’am. Exchanging insults just gets you a warning to settle down and eat your food, but threatening to hurt people gets you thrown out of my restaurant.”

“Thank you Mrs. MacArthur, Mr. Spearman, your witness.”

“Thank you Ma’am”, he said nodding. “Mrs. MacArthur, do you personally know the plaintiff or defendant?”

“She comes in with her friends now and again after her friend’s hockey games.”

“And Mr. Harris?”

“I never saw him before that night.”

“Does the plaintiff tip your staff well? Act polite?”

“Course she does, her family raised her right.”

“So you might say you enjoy her patronage.”

“Objection, leading the witness.”

“Mr. Spearman, do you have a point to this line of questioning?” The Colonel asked tiredly.

“I am attempting to establish the witness is bias towards the plaintiff.”

“Why?”

“Er,” He hadn’t expected to be challenged on the matter. “If I may, I’m trying to establish that the witness might be bias.”

“Everyone is biased, Mr. Spearman. Unless you have reason to believe her bias effected the argument the Defendant was engaged in, move your questioning along.”

“No further questions for this witness, your honors.”

“The witness is dismissed.”

* * *

“On the night of December fourteenth you witnessed an altercation between the defendant and the plaintiff?”

“Yes ma’am,” Mr. Griswold told Lt. Johnson. The lanky slightly balding man told her.

“And what did that altercation entail?”

“Well,” He said pulling at his rather full bottom lip. “I saw there was a fight brewing on the dance floor between a couple of my students and some kids from another school, so as a chaperone I headed over. Miss Carter and her boyfriend aren’t known for making trouble so I figured it might be the Conner kid again.”

“Why did you assume it was a particular student?”

“I ref for the intercollegiate hockey league for the tri county area. Mr. Harris had recently put Mr. O’Neill in the hospital with internal bleeding he needed emergency surgery for after high sticking him in the gut then punching where he’d hit.”

“You witnessed this personally?”

“I made the call.”

“And you think there might be a personal vendetta between the boys?”

“I don’t know ma’am. I don’t know why the kid did it but O’Neill was in no shape to get into a fist fight so soon after surgery. He had to still be hurting at the dance. Never got out with his buddies except to slow dance with his girlfriend.”

“And his girlfriend is?”

“The plaintiff ma’am, Miss Carter.”

“What was the nature of the altercation Mr. Griswold?”

“Well, when I walked up behind the Harris kid, Miss Carter was stating she didn’t want to dance with him and her boyfriend was backing her up and Conner told his buddies to take Jon out back for a beat down then threatened to rape Sammy.”

“He said he’d rape her?”

“He said, let me see…” Mr. Griswold pulled at his lip again. “That he’d bend her over. As she’d told him no repeatedly, it was definite that he meant to do it by force.”

“What was Miss Carter and Mr. O’Neill’s response?”

“Well, Sammy got real mad at that point and tried to round house kick him in the head.”

“Tried to?”

“O’Neill stopped her ma’am.”

“In what way?”

“Put his hand up and grabbed her ankle like a ballet move. Haven’t seen anyone move like that since a Judo instructor I had in the service.’

“Thank you Mr. Griswold. No further questions.”

“Your witness Mr. Spearman.”

“Mr. Griswold, you mentioned you were in the service?”

“Yes sir. US Marine Corps sir.”

“Thank you for your service sir.”

“Respectfully, I was enlisted not an officer, I’m not entitled to be called sir.” Behind Sammy, Wil covered his mouth as though he was coughing to hide his amused snicker.

“Ah, well, ok, would it be fair to say you would automatically side with other military members in a disagreement with a civilian?”

“I would if there were any military personnel at the dance Mr. Spearman.”

“But you were aware of Mr. O’Neill and Miss Carter’s family connections.”

“I know Sammy’s foster father is a fellow corpsman. I met him at her parent teacher conferences.”

“And Mr. O’Neill?”

“Both Jon’s legal guardians were away on business during parent teacher conferences. I’ve spoken to them both over the phone however.”

“Is it possible Miss Carter started the altercation?”

“I don’t see how Mr. Spearman.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Jon had been injured recently. The only thing Sammy did all night was hover over him to make sure he didn’t do anything the doctors had told him not to yet.” This earned him a bit of a chuckle from the tribunal and the observation seats.

“Did Miss Carter dance with anyone else?”

“Respectfully, I’d have no way of knowing that. I wasn’t watching them specifically.”

“So you don’t know that Miss Carter did in fact only hover around her injured boyfriend.”

“They weren’t apart any time I scanned the room.”

“Scanned the room?”

“Part of the reason the school likes me to chaperone is I am trained to watch for trouble and can mitigate situations quickly.”

“You were watching the entire floor?”

“For the most part. I know almost all the students by name and the rest by sight.”

“So you knew immediately Mr. Harris did not belong in your school.”

“Objection, leading the witness.”

“Sustained. Mr. Spearman, get to your point.”

“Did you know he wasn’t a student at your school?”

“I knew he wasn’t one of my kids. We had a lot of kids there that night that were from other schools. Guys bring their girlfriends or cousins. Girls bring their boyfriends from other schools. We don’t have any rules against it, mostly the kids behave pretty well.”

“Except that dance.”

“Except that one yes.”

“I’m told you personally handed the situation.”

“Well like I said, I’ve been trained to deal with unrulies. Used to be an MP.”

“How did you handle my client and his friends?”

“Held them by their shoulders and escorted them out. Called their folks to come pick them up and made sure they were loaded into the cars.”

“Was there any issue when their parents came?”

“None with me. Generally parents of kids from other schools don’t cause much fuss if we have to call them.”

“So you didn’t get into an argument with Mrs. Harris?”

“Oh well I suppose she wasn’t real happy with me and ran her mouth a bit but I just stared at her till she was done and told her to have a nice night.” He said a little smugly.

“That’s not the story Mrs. Harris told.”

“Well, I don’t know what story Mrs. Harris told but you can ask any of my fellow teachers how I handle angry parents and they will all tell you the same story. I don’t waste time arguing with parents. Waste of my time son. That’s why I’m usually called when someone starts nonsense with one of the other teachers.”

The court erupted in chuckles again. Griswold was lanky and looked harmless but that was clearly deceptive.

Spearman glared at him. “I have no further questions for this witness.”

“Good. We’ll take a recess until oh eight hundred Wednesday.” Colonel Lopez told everyone. “This session is adjourned.”

Sammy sagged in her seat.

“Relax. It’s going well. He’s got character witnesses but the evidence that he’s been stalking and threatening you is pretty clear.”

“Let’s go get some grub campers.” Jack said kindly from behind Wil and Mary.

“Great. I’m starved.” Mary said. She had a thoughtful look on her face. “Ruth, you didn’t have Shanahan testify?”

“Hostile witness.” Ruth said firmly.

“Of course, my wife strafing him for his shoddy treatment of Sammy couldn’t have anything to do with that.”

Sam scowled. “Don’t trust him on the stand. He did a background check on me when I wouldn’t tell him what I did for a living. Had I known I might have chucked him to the curb before all that money was wasted on a wedding I canceled.”

“I said I was sorry.” Jack told her with a frown.

“I wasn’t blaming you and you did pay off my credit cards which was very sweet of you by the way.”

“It was the least I could do since I should have asked you not to accept the ring in the first place.”

“Did I miss something?” Wil asked in bewilderment.

“Aunt Sam almost married that shlub cop running the case. It was what, ten days before their wedding before she broke it off in his ass?”

“Jon, language.” Mary admonished him.

“Sorry ma’am.”

“Ten days huh?”

Jack had started to smirk in amusement. “Her dad knocked some sense into me before I screwed up my entire life.”

“Should have done it sooner sir.” Wil told him. “And before you remind me, both of us are in uniform. This is happening.”

Jack chuckled. “Come on, I know a great place off the interstate and I’m buying.”

“Now that’s the kind of talk I like sir.” Wil agreed.


	13. I Watch Them Grow

**Chapter 13 – I Watch Them Grow**

“Sir, can we talk?”

“What is it Lieutenant?” Jack asked her. He’d been sitting at the kitchen table going over some reports, Gracie in her highchair next to him eating fish crackers. Jack still was in the habit of the house being unlocked if he was home so when she’d knocked he’d yelled to come in rather than get up from his work.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your day sir, but I think I might have found something.” Ruth told him.

“What kind of something?”

“Something that will blow both cases wide open, especially the civil one.” She told him smugly.

“Any reason you held back before?”

“I didn’t. This is more a lazy police work issue than anything else.” Which made Jack look at her sharply. “It doesn’t quite qualify as intentional negligence but it still falls under spoliation as it’s equally possible he’s incompetent as he might be trying to throw the case.”

“If I ever get my hands on that stupid, bitter, ignorant, smarmy, creepy- “

“Sir.”

“I wasn’t done Lieutenant.”

“I know sir, but I get the idea. Shanahan is a moron. Sir.”

“That’s giving him credit for having any brains at all Lieutenant. Honestly he’d play dumb but it’s not the first time I’ve caught him doing shady shit.”

“Dada! Shit!” Gracie said gleefully.

“Great. And now Carter is going to kill me.” Jack said rolling his eyes skyward.

Ruth chuckled. “I’ll tell her I said it sir.” She said in amusement.

“All right, lay it on me, what have you got?” Jack asked her as he put the papers he’d been reading in a manila folder out of her eyesight though she’d been studiously making eye contact or looking around. As head of Homeworld Security, she was certain anything General O’Neill was reviewing in his bathrobe on a Tuesday morning was probably classified.

“So after court the other day, I drove by the crime scene to get a better look at the area in person. I was honestly trying to see if any of the stores on the corner might have even possibly had security cameras turned that way.”

“Any luck?” he asked her.

“Not on that front, no sir, What I did find though might help our case, if I can get co-operation.”

“Well, like I said, lay it on me lieutenant.”

“Sir, the house on the corner has a security camera aimed in the general direction of where Conner parked his dad’s work van.”

“Do we have the footage?”

“No sir, the house is owned by a retired marine sergeant and wouldn’t talk to me. I was hoping if you showed up in uniform though…”

“That he might comply on auto pilot.”

“Exactly sir.”

“Worth a shot.” Jack said thoughtfully.

“I agree. I’ve also been moonlighting on local teen chat boards.”

“That sounds like the worst way I’ve heard of in a while to spend an evening Johnson, and I’ve spent evenings listening to Carter’s team compare software platforms.”

“I’ve spent worse sir.” She said affably. “In any case, it seems young Mr. Harris is quite the busy lad.”

“Oh?” Jack said with a tilt of his head.

“Apparently Sammy isn’t the first girl he’s assaulted. She might be the first one to get away though.”

“How did you find that out?”

“I’m pretty good at getting kids to trust me. All it took was me casually mentioning my friend had been assaulted by a kid from Peak to Peak and that he’d used his dad’s work van and I had PMs galore to talk to various users or girls that were raped by him.”

“I’m going to have a very hard time not punching his face in tomorrow.”

“Same here sir. At least you can sit in the back with Colonel Carter and glare at him. I have to cross examine the slimy little creep. Sir, I have a buddy in civilian law that would be willing to take their cases pro-bono if I can get them to press charges.”

“Making sure he doesn’t just go down, he stays down.”

“Yes sir.” She said with enthusiasm.

“All right. Give me a few to get dressed and we’ll get going. I’ll drop Gracie off with Wil on our way. I want this kid in jail for a really long time.” Jack gave her a tight smile. “Have a muffin. Mary baked them so they are safe. You don’t want anything Sam and I bake together. We get distracted.” He said with an amused grin and left the kitchen.

“That was more than I needed to know.” Ruth told Gracie who offered her a fish cracker.

* * *

Jack put on a bland expression and knocked on the front door. It was several moments before an older, heavy set man with a ring of salt and pepper hair and an attempt at a comb over answered the door. “Can I help you sir?”

“Sergeant Major Woodrow Bradt?” Jack asked him in his business voice.

“Yes sir.” The older man straightened and saluted Jack.

“Could I have a moment of your time Sergeant?” Jack asked him.

“Well now that depends, am I on trial?” he said giving Ruth a suspicious look.

“Not to my knowledge Sergeant.” Jack said with a small amount of amusement.

“All right, what brings Air Force brass to my front door then?” he asked as he let them in.

Jack waited for him to close the door and looked around the small living room off the foyer. He went over to the framed photos on a mahogany expandable table under the window. “Grandkids?” Jack asked with a smile.

“Youp. Wife’s boy gave me 3 grand-kids to spoil rotten. Her first husband died when the kid was little. Thought he might need a dad and I was fond of her.”

“Good looking kids.” Jack told him.

“Smart too. Especially the girl. She wants to be an astronaut this month. Last month she wanted to be an archeologist.”

Jack smiled. “I know your loyalties sir, but if you encourage her into the Air Force my team is looking for people like her.”

“She’s got a few years to go yet being thirteen but I’ll keep it in mind. Can’t say I’m the brightest guy but it’s not usual for a two star General to show up at an old enlisted Marine’s house just for a chat. What can I do for you today sir?”

Jack smiled a little as he’d literally just come from chatting with an old enlisted Sergeant. “My wife’s niece is thirteen, and smart like your granddaughter. She’s actually the reason we’re here.”

“She lonely Sir?” Woodrow asked with a small chuckle.

Jack grinned. “Not since she started dating my nephew.”

“That’s going to be hard to explain at family reunions later.”

Jack let out a small laugh. “You betcha. Sergeant, I saw you have video cameras on your house.”

“Had a break in last year. The boy got me all set up with a security system after that. For a kid I didn’t have a hand in making, he’s a good son to me. Even went into the Corps like his pop.”

“Sergeant, do any of those cameras face the street near B Street?” Ruth asked him politely.

“They do Lieutenant. One of you fine officers mind telling me what this is all about?”

“An attempted rape happened two houses down from yours. When I was checking out the crime scene because the police officer did a mediocre job investigating, I noticed you had a security system that might have caught footage of the attack.” Ruth’s mouth firmed. “Her attacker has previously made threats to her and is now suing her in civil court for assault because she fought back.”

“You said she’s thirteen?”

“Yes sir.” Jack said.

“How old is this kid?”

“Almost seventeen sergeant.”

“Go after him for statutory too. He’s past the age of underage consent.” Woodrow told her with a growl. “What day did it happen? I’ll call my security company and have the tapes pulled. My side yard camera faces that way to catch license plates if I’m ever broken in to again. It’s a top of the line system, the images should be really clear.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Sergeant.” Jack told him.

“’Taint cooperation. If someone put a hand on my little girl I’d flay him like a gutted pig.” He said as he waved at the photos on the table in the window. “Let me go find the number and I’ll ring them up. Go ahead and have a seat, help yourself to the tea in the fridge. You’ll need to add sugar. Wife won’t let me drink sweet tea since I was diagnosed diabetic.” He explained and headed to the back of the house.

“That went easier than expected.” Ruth said softly.

Jack nodded. “He loves his grand kids. I’d bet he loves having their friends over too.”

“Here it is, let me just ring them up and I’ll have those tapes for you.” Woodrow said.

Fifteen minutes later they had the address of the security company and written permission to retrieve the tapes from that day.

Within an hour they had the tapes. “Sir, my office is the other way.” Ruth told Jack.

“SGC is this way though and I want copies of this. Don’t worry, I’ll handle your clearance.”

“Must be some telescope.” She mused.

“You have _no_ idea.” Jack said with a broad grin.


	14. They’ll Learn Much More

**Chapter 14 – They’ll Learn Much More**

“Samantha Carter, please tell us in your own words what happened on the afternoon of June the fourteenth.”

“I was coming home from piano practice on my bike and remembered I needed to go to the store.”

“Where were you when you changed your usual route home?”

“I was just before Lashelle so I decided to hit the Perry’s on B Street as it was the closest drug store.”

“Were you being followed?”

“Not that I noticed but Chamberlin gets a lot of traffic as it’s the main street for the neighborhood.”

“So your assailant could have simply committed a crime of opportunity.”

“I suppose so. I don’t think like a rapist so I wouldn’t know.”

“Objection.” Spearman said half standing.

“Overruled. The Plaintiff may continue Lt. Johnson.”

“Thank you Ma’am.” When did you realize your assailant was intending to harm you?”

“Have you ever just had the hairs stand up on your body? It was like that. I saw the white van and felt weird and the closer I got the more I got the feeling I needed to avoid it so I tried to steer off the bike path but my bike isn’t made for off road in the grass and I wasn’t fast enough to steer away before he shoved rebar in my front tire and sent me over my handlebars onto the sidewalk.”

“What happened after you landed?”

“Conner offered to help me up.”

“Did you let him?”

“No, of course not.”

“Why?”

“Because he’d deliberately toppled me off my bike. I didn’t trust him to actually help at that point.”

“What did you do after that?”

“I tried to get up on my own but Conner grabbed my arm and pulled me up.”

“Did you tell him to stop?”

“Yup. I made it very clear I didn’t want him touching me in any way whatsoever.”

“Did he say anything to you?”

“He called me Carter and I told him not to. Then he negged me.”

“Negged you?”

“Yah, it’s when a guy gives you an insult to hurt your feelings because he thinks you will try to get a compliment from him after. He said I’d be almost pretty if I wasn’t so skinny.” Sammy scowled and felt grim satisfaction that Wil, Jon and Jack were all boring holes into Conner’s head. “So I told him this was his last chance to let me go.”

“And he didn’t.”

“No. He dragged me to the back of the van and let go of one of my arms to open the door. I saw the zip ties and just knew, you know? So I started really fighting back because I knew if he overpowered me enough to zip tie my hands or legs that it was going to be really hard to stop him from what he planned.”

“And what was that?”

“Objection calls for speculation.”

“Sustained. Word your question better Lieutenant.”

“Did you have reason to suspect the defendant planned to harm you further?”

“He’d threatened me a few times already and he’d grabbed my arm hard enough to leave a handprint on it after I told him not to touch me. He also had an erection when he was trying to pull me to the back of the van.”

“Thank you Miss Carter. I have no further questions.”

Spearman got up and faced Sammy who stared him down.

“Did you have a previous relationship with Mr. Harris, Miss Carter?”

“Not in the way you mean that no.”

“How do I mean that Miss Carter.”

Sammy glared at him. “A romantic or sexual relationship.”

“Are you sexually active?”

“Objection! Irrelevant to the case your honor.”

“Sustained. Council keep to the actual trial.”

“Ma’am, I am trying to establish if she will have sex with one boy at her age she’ll likely have sex with another.”

“Counsel, there had better be a reason for this line of irrelevant questioning. It’s not against the law to have a boyfriend at thirteen yet.”

“I’ll reword the question ma’am.”

“See that you do.”

“Miss Carter, do you have male friends?”

“Well, of course, I have several male friends.”

“Would you say you are generally friendly with boys?”

“I’m generally friendly with everyone Mr. Spearman, that doesn’t make me a slut.”

Jon stifled a snort of amusement that Sam elbowed him lightly to cut off.

“You know it’s interesting that you have so many close friends so quickly after moving across country in the foster system. Especially as none of your supposed teachers remember you in your old school.”

Sammy looked up at him and then gave Jack a pleading look that got her a short sharp nod.

“In fact, there is no proof that you even existed prior to last year.”

Jack stood “Tribunal commission, a word in your chambers.”

“General O’Neill, now is _not_ the time.” The tribunal head told Jack. She knew who he was but not what his position was as it was extremely classified.

“Respectfully Ma’am, this line of questioning cannot be continued for security reasons I cannot discuss in a public setting.”

“Recess for ten minutes. General, Lieutenant, follow me.”

“It’s customary for both sides to hear the reason why evidence cannot be presented ma’am” Spearman objected.

“Civilian courts don’t deal with national security, military ones do. That’s why you are here and not in front of an elected judge Mr. Spearman.” Her tone was dismissive and she motioned for Jack and Ruth to follow her.

* * *

Colonel Lopez closed the door once all the tribunal members, Jack and Ruth were in the judge’s chambers. “All right General, what on earth is so secret that however misguided, Mr. Spearman can’t ask where she came from?”

“Colonel, most of the reason I’m here personally is to protect the identity of the victim. She’s the product of a government project and under direct military protection. Her lineage, history and nearly everything about her is classified information.”

“Is she in witness protection General?”

“No but who she really is falls under the heading of extremely classified and while I know exactly who probably tipped off Harris’ dog, it’s still not open to discussion. I don’t want to have to pull rank here Colonel, but I will if it’s necessary.”

“Fair enough. I don’t want to tangle with the brass if it’s none of their business. I’ll strike the line of questioning from the record and remind Mr. Spearman that if he goes over the line I can find him in contempt just the same as a civilian judge.”

“Thank you Colonel Lopez.” Jack told her sincerely.

“Don’t thank me yet, the trial isn’t over.”

* * *

Jack smiled at the younger blond haired man while he held up the cassette tape. “In case you are shady not just incompetent, a copy of this is already in the hands of both attorneys, the tribunal and the civilian judge. It will be presented tomorrow in civil court which will blow that case up and will likely finalize the tribunal’s decision the next day as well.” Jack’s smile wasn’t genuine and his eyes glinted. “You know Shanahan… I get why you hate _me_. I’d hate me too under the circumstances. Hell I can even see why you might be angry at Carter about the whole thing seeing as she spent her time with you trying to pretend she was over me when she wasn’t. Lord knows I’m mad at myself for waiting too long to tell her how I feel about her but you know what I _don’t_ get?”

“I’m sure you will tell me General.” Pete told him with a frown.

“I don’t get why you would help a sexual predator get away with an attempted rape of a little girl just because you hate her family. She’s just a kid Shanahan.”

“I didn’t- “

“Save it shrub, the only one who would have dug around into her personal history was you. You did it to Carter and I should have spoken up then but I didn’t because I thought she had the right to decide what kind of man you are without my influence. She deserved better than what you did to her.”

“Did to her? I gave her everything she wanted. Love, a home, a real life.” Pete said defensively.

“She already had those things. If you knew her you would have seen that.” Jack said shaking his head. “If you had really loved her you wouldn’t have pushed her deeper into a relationship she was too polite to back out of even though it was really clear to everyone around her but you that she wasn’t really happy. Hell her dad saw it the first time he met you.” Jack shook his head and set the tape on Pete’s desk. “You loved how pretty she looked on your arm Shanahan, but you never really loved her. You’ve never seen her eyes light with delight when she’s discovered a new doohickey or her brows furrow when she’s solving the mysteries of the universe, you’ve never tried to understand who she really is. She’s so much more than just pretty and sweet. She’s brilliant and tough as nails and she can shoot better than anyone I know and can take down men twice her size and has with just a knife. And she has the most generous and forgiving heart of anyone I’ve ever known. And that’s why _I_ love her Shanahan. Her looks are just icing.” Jack bore holes into the cop’s head with his eyes.

“She never told me those things.”

“You never thought to ask.” Jack said with certainty. And then he turned and walked away randomly whistling the theme song for Wormhole X-Treme.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, not as punch in the face as we might like BUT Jack knows Sam can take care of herself and he'd never do something that would just make her mad at him. He's got too much riding on her being happy.


	15. Than I’ll Ever Know

**Chapter 15 – Than I’ll Ever Know**

The civil case had several spectators the judge had to warn of graphic content in the video before showing it to the jury. No one left though other than Sammy who stood outside with Wil, Mary, Jon and Jack. Sam elected to stay in the court room in case Conner did something ridiculous.

Shortly after with the entire jury glaring daggers at Conner, Spearman requested to approach the bench. “You’re honor, I wish to withdraw my client’s claim.”

“Is this at behest of your client?”

“Not entirely, he sees nothing wrong with his actions which is why I want to recommend to the military tribunal that he be assessed for mental illness and be remanded to a state mental health facility rather than a prison.”

“That’s between you and the other judges Mr. Spearmen. This case is dismissed.” The judge announced and announced the end of the trial with his gavel.

Sammy hugged Ruth. “Thank you.”

“It was a garbage case. He probably wouldn’t have won anyway as all the physical evidence was on your side already but I’m glad this one is over with. I need to get over to Peterson and let Colonel Lopez know this one is over at least.”

“Snacks everyone?” Jack asked with a falsely bland expression. He was trying very hard not to grin ear to ear. Thank goodness for crusty old Sergeants who had paranoid sons.

* * *

Ruth had to give the other attorney credit; he did make an attempt at discrediting the tape but frankly the images of him toppling Sammy’s bike then dragging her to the back of the van while she resisted his efforts were just too damning. In the end, Colonel Lopez conferred with the other judges for less than thirty minutes before coming back and announcing that in light of the additional current evidence they had no choice but to find Conner Harris guilty of criminal sexual misconduct. She thanked everyone for their participation and ordered Conner remanded to state custody for sentencing.

“This is _not_ over.” He snarled across the room at Sammy and Jon who had joined her and was hugging her ecstatically.

“Yes it is. You are going away for a very long time. And every time you come up for parole, it will be my personal mission to show up with that footage.” Jack said with a very unkind smile.

“I demand a retrial.” The kid said desperately.

“Not with me you won’t. Mr. and Mrs. Harris, I apologize but I formally withdraw my counsel for your son.”

“What?” Conner’s mother demanded.

“You can’t do that.” Conner’s father said.

“I can sir. I’m sorry but your son lied on the stand and while he’s entitled to representation, he is not entitled to my representation.”

Mr. Harris sputtered for a moment. “Spearman, you’re fired and if I have my way I’ll have you disbarred too.”

“You can certainly try. Lieutenant Johnson, it’s been a pleasure.” He said to his opponent and held out his hand which she shook with a thoughtful expression.

“Good luck with your next trial Mr. Spearman.”

“Thank you.” He said with a nod and looked at Jack. “Sir, I hope you understand I was only doing the job I was hired for.”

Jack gave him an unreadable look. “Sometimes you go where they send you.” He said cryptically but put his hand out to the attorney to shake. “Let’s go home everyone. Wil says Mary made cake.”


	16. What a Wonderful World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly a mop up of the story here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like Fate, the next story will start before this chapter but doesn't necessarily go in this epilog yah know? I hope everyone enjoyed this and got some measure of satisfaction out of Conner's punishment and read between the lines that the problem was how his mom acts not his dad in spite of Jon/Jack's opinion.

**Chapter 16 – What a Wonderful World**

Jack had to keep a firm hand on Jon’s arm during Conner’s testimony as Jon had been unable to control the look of hate on his face. Conner had smirked at him like he won right up until the video of him attacking Sammy unprovoked was admitted as evidence and shown for all to see. How little that punk knew. Conner was safer in jail. Jon decided to be at every parole hearing the kid got along with Jack. By the time he got his first hearing Jon would have made captain at least and he had extra years to perfect the colonel face. It might not intimidate Carter anymore but it worked on nearly everyone else.

Conner was initially sentenced to six months in a state penitentiary. Wil had been incensed, not knowing that most rapists got off really light and he was lucky to serve any time at all. Ruth had kept her word though.

Other girls had come forward after the trial to have their cases heard too. In all, at least five girls that Sammy heard about had been raped by him. Always the same MO and Jack had made sure every truck belonging to the Harris construction company was DNA tested under a black light. They found evidence of more victims but without processed rape kits it was impossible to convict him on them. Conner’s six moths stretched out into several concurrent five to seven year terms. Everyone knew he’d probably only serve a couple years of each of those terms but that still put him away for a solid decade without any intervention from Jack.

His family had tried to cause trouble at her school after that of course. Put a bug in the ear of some of the parents that she had done all this because their dear innocent son had turned Sammy’s advances down. But they picked the wrong PTA moms this time. Half of them knew Sammy personally and several of them had witnessed the incident at the Christmas dance as PTA members had to chaperone dances as part of their duties and more importantly, everyone knew Jon and knew his pretty and bright girlfriend had eyes only for him. Conner’s mom had been laughed out of the public school mom circle and as some of the girls he’d raped were from his own school she wasn’t very welcomed there either.

Sammy felt a little bad for Mr. Harris whose construction company was now struggling as word got out that his kid was a piece of crap rapist. Jon didn’t feel bad at all. He told her that kind of thing ran in families. Where, after all, did she supposed the kid had learned it from.

Sammy continued to have nightmares over the incident for several weeks after. It still wasn’t as bad as the time the guys had to stay with her for a week because she couldn’t sleep alone without waking up screaming hysterically. A few weeks of therapy had soothed her jangled nerves as had a few trips to the range with uncle Wil and sneaking into the boy’s gym at school and beating the snot out of a punching bag a few times while Jon held it so she could hit it harder.

Jon had eventually moved back to his apartment after a lengthy lecture from Mary about how their behavior looked to outsiders. He took his dressing down fairly well and never ratted Sammy out for initiating the whole thing in the first place. She was currently banned until further notice from going to his apartment by herself. Jon was, however, welcome at the Amos home whenever he wished. Something told Jon perhaps they guessed more than he’d thought at first about who started going too far while making out.

Things went back to as normal as it got for Jon and Sammy considering they were teenaged clones of veteran adult Air Force officers.

Pete, whether at the insistence of his partner or introspection on Jack shaming him, wrote Sam an apology letter about how he’d handled the case. Sam didn’t waste time bothering to reply to it. As forgiving as she was, she rarely forgot and there were some lines you just didn’t cross when serving your country. She realized now that Pete had just been a nicer version of Jonas with all the emotional manipulation but none of the threats or gaslighting. Jack may not be perfect by any stretch of the idea; he was moody and irrational when angry and childish when bored, but he respected her as much if not more than he loved her and that was the one thing that had been missing from all her other relationships. No amount of love made up for a lack of respect for her feelings. Jack had tried almost too hard to honor them.

Sammy was greeted to a standing ovation in the halls when she showed up for the first day of Sophomore year. Word had gotten out that not only had she bested Conner when he attacked her but had been instrumental in his serving a very long sentence. She’d blushed furiously while she was passed around for hugs and thank yous from the girls Conner had casually assaulted or threatened to assault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, and everyone clapped is a bit cheesy but Conner hurt a lot of people and Sam saved them all so I think she deserves a bit of embarrassing hugging.


End file.
